Independent power producers in British Columbia

Independent Power Producer (IPP) projects have had a significant presence in British Columbia since the 1980s. Their relationship with BC Hydro grew from the province's need to supply growing energy demands and implementation of the 2002 Energy Strategy, which mandated that BC Hydro would purchase its energy supply from IPPs rather than generating the supply itself. There are a variety of power projects in BC, with the most popular being hydroelectricity and biomass projects. In recent years, more attention has been placed on the environmental effects of IPP projects and the social implications it has to residents living around the project development sites. Despite the decline in demand for new IPP projects, they continue to supply BC Hydro with 20% of the province's energy needs.

Starting in the 1980s, independent power producer projects became popular in British Columbia due to growing demands for energy that could no longer be supported by BC Hydro alone. New provincial regulations addressed the issue of how to manage the energy budget and recommended the creation of new programs to help supply the domestic demand. The success of these programs lead to a revamped energy strategy in 2002, outlined under the new BC Energy Plan, which legislated that BC Hydro would no longer make its own energy-generating capacity, and instead purchase power directly from IPPs. This led to a boom in the distribution of IPP licenses and rapid growth of new energy-harvesting projects, along with expansion of existing projects to rural regions. In 2006, BC Hydro entered a long-term electricity purchase agreement with large-scale and small-scale IPP projects, which requires that the project developers sell all energy generated from the project to BC Hydro for a term of 20 to 40 years starting on the commercial operation date. In 2009 there were 46 projects in operation and an additional 38 proposed or under construction projects that have agreements with BC Hydro.

In 2007, the new energy plan mandated that at least 90 per cent of all electricity generated in BC must originate from clean, sustainable sources. This bill, often termed as the "Clean Power Call," lead to a marked reduction of diesel generating projects, and contributed to the dominance of wind turbine and run-of-the-river projects, which left much smaller impacts on the environment. With the loss of previous producers of energy, a second call for power was announced and new contracts were created to restore the amount of energy available. Despite the growing popularity, there has been a reduction in the need for IPPs, as a result of the province's mandate to reduce BC Hydro's utility cost on consumers. Since 2013, there have been several cuts in contracts and IPP development has slowed substantially. In 2014 BC sold 7400 MWh to the US and ended the year with net imports of 2300 MWh, the largest in Canada.

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