B.C. to streamline regulatory process for clean energy projects

B.C. is promising to make it easier and quicker for companies to get permits for renewable energy projects.

On Thursday, the province announced it will introduce new legislation this spring to put projects such as wind and solar under the authority of the B.C. Energy Regulator.

The regulator monitors energy projects in B.C. throughout their entire lifecycle and is funded by service fees and levies charged to industry companies. It's stated purpose is to protect the environment and keep people safe while balancing environmental, economic and social considerations. 

Evan Pivnick, a program manager at Clean Energy Canada, says clean energy companies have previously had to work with multiple stakeholders — the Water, Lands and Natural Resources Ministry and the Environmental Assessment Office — to secure permits for their projects, with their jurisdictions often overlapping and creating delays.

Once the legislation passes, Pivnick says project teams will be able to work with the regulator as a "one-window shop" to jump over the various hurdles that are part of any project.

Clean Energy Canada is a think-tank based out of Simon Fraser University's Centre for Dialogue, and the federal government and private foundations are among its funders.

Pivnick says there are nine clean energy projects in B.C. that will likely be subject to the new framework.

"We'd like to see a dedicated team and dedicated resources stood up within the B.C. Energy Regulator that actually takes responsibility for these projects," Pivnick said, adding there also needs to be more attention on labour supply and skills training to help accelerate projects.

Expanded scope

Michelle Carr, B.C. Energy Regulator's chief executive officer, said in a statement the organization has established expertise in managing energy projects, and it will apply that knowledge to clean energy to "support the province's transition to low-carbon energy."

The organization, established by the province in 1998, initially focused on oil, gas and geothermal development, and later expanded to regulate hydrogen, ammonia and methanol projects.

Under this latest expansion of its purview, it will regulate renewable energy projects.

Provincial officials with the Ministry of Energy and Climate Solutions say the regulator will take a staged approach, and focus initially on wind and solar projects, as well as the North Coast Transmission Line and other high-voltage electrical transmission lines.

The ministry said it is speaking with First Nations across the province about the new legislation.

Kwatuuma Cole Sayers, executive director of the Clean Energy Association of British Columbia, said in a statement that designating the B.C. Energy Regulator as the only regulator for renewables will help B.C. meet its growing demand for electricity.

The announcement comes in the same week that the province began fast-tracking 18 energy, mining and critical mineral projects in order to reduce its reliance on trade with the United States, amid the threat of a trade war. 

According to the province, those projects were already on the books and it will now be expedited through the approval process.