Quote:
Originally Posted by WarrenC12
I don't know the geography, but can't you keep the power generation and use the water for Metro Van supply?
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We don't actually need any of the power generation (there are more line losses to keep using the Columbia River dam system, but that is primarily where Metro Vancouver's energy comes from anyway.) If worse comes to worse in a low-snowpack season they can just curtail generation. Buntzen Lake generation is only 76.8 MW. It probably only still exists because it's cheap to maintain. (All Hydro facilities are cheap to operate unless there are serious deficiencies.) The original powerhouse powered the original streetcars.
For the most part, the only reason we have Burrard Thermal (950MW) at all is because of spikey local loads AFAIK, and BC Hydro wants to shut it down permanently (probably a bad idea, but it's too expensive to run without a full load, and emissions makes it lower the air quality of Metro Vancouver.)
Which comes back to how do we capture more water. Well the solution is obvious. We don't. Desalination is the only permanent option, and one of the quicker ways to do that is to boil and capture the water, hence look back at Burrard Thermal or build a Geothermal plant. The less politically viable option is to capture water from the Fraser before it gets to sea level, which means goodbye Salmon fishery.