Power demand surge pushes B.C. to consider more big hydroelectric dams | Daily Hive

Power demand surge pushes B.C. government to consider building more massive hydroelectric dams

Site C hydroelectric dam, August 2025. (BC Hydro)

Less than a year after the newly-built John Horgan Dam and Generation Station — formerly known as the Site C dam — reached 100 per cent power generation capacity, the Government of British Columbia has now confirmed that it is exploring the possibility of pursuing two additional major hydroelectric dam projects.

This is due to BC Hydro’s revised power demand forecast for the short-, medium-, and long-term period, with the provincial Crown corporation projecting electricity demand in the province will surge by 20 per cent by 2030 and 50 per cent by 2050, with peak demand increasing by 44 per cent on the coldest days of the year.

Today, the electric utility announced two potential large, publicly-owned hydroelectric project sites are in the very early stages of consideration.

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One site would be a dusting of decades-old concepts on the Peace River in northeastern B.C., about 60 km east from the John Horgan Dam — near the B.C.-Alberta border, where the Peace River meets the Alces River. It would take advantage of the existing reservoir storage to expand capacity, potentially generating up to 750 megawatts (MW) of generating capacity and producing roughly 3,000 gigawatt hours (GWh) of electricity annually.

Site E would be the fourth hydroelectric dam on the Peace River. To the west of the John Horgan Dam are the 1968-built W.A.C. Bennett Dam and the 1980-built Peace Canyon Dam. The plan to build Site E was cancelled in the early 1980s due to opposition.

A second site would be about 250 km northwest of Vancouver — on the Homathko River, located near Bute Inlet. It would consist of up to four dams and three powerhouses, with its electricity generation potential estimated to be about 500 MW to 900 MW of capacity and between 3,000 GWh to 4,500 GWh of electricity per year. This project could also include new transmission lines reaching Williams Lake and Vancouver Island.

In contrast, the $16-billion new John Horgan Dam has 1,100 MW of capacity and an output of 5,100 GWh per year, enough to power about 500,000 homes annually.

Location of the potential Site E hydroelectric dam, located east of the John Horgan Dam (Site C) and Fort St. John and near the B.C.-Alberta border. (Google Maps)

Homathko bute inlet hydroelectric dam bc hydro

Location of the potential Homathko River hydroelectric dam near Bute Inlet. (Google Maps)

BC Hydro emphasizes that no decisions has been made on the two hydroelectric dam sites being considered, given that it takes a very long time to design, plan, and build such infrastructure, which is prone to controversy due to the environmental tradeoffs for the natural landscapes and ecology. But this is a clean alternative to large sources of reliable power generation based on fossil fuels and nuclear in other jurisdictions.

For instance, what was previously called the Site C dam was first proposed in the 1950s, with further planning work done in the 1970s and 1980s — until it was cancelled due to opposition. In the 2000s, the planning process was revived, with the provincial government formally announcing its intention to proceed with Site C in 2010, provincial and federal environmental approval certificates issued in 2014, and construction beginning in 2015.

According to the utility, 98 per cent of the electricity it generates is from hydroelectric sources. But it is also known to buy power from other jurisdictions that produce electricity using fossil fuels.

July 2024 construction progress on the Site C hydroelectric dam. (BC Hydro)

site c hydroelectric dam bc hydro august 2025

Site C hydroelectric dam, August 2025. (BC Hydro)

Other big, long-term projects being explored include geothermal energy at Meager Creek, located northwest of Pemberton. This area is known for its natural hot springs and geothermal energy potential. It is also located near Mount Meager — a potentially active stratovolcano, with the area known for its geological instability, including major landslides.

As well, the utility is considering electricity generation through biomass and the construction of utility-scale battery storage of up to 400 MW, which would store power when demand is low — such as during the overnight hours — and send it back to the grid when the demand is highest.

“This is B.C. and BC Hydro’s defining opportunity to build on our clean energy advantage,” said Adrian Dix, B.C. minister of energy and climate solutions, in a statement today.

“Rising demand for clean electricity is a good thing and shows our plans to build B.C. and grow our economy are working. Now, we’re planning ahead with renewed long-term vision to power growing communities, support industry and keep our economy strong.”

In 2023, BC Hydro first announced it would need much more additional electricity much sooner than anticipated, as early as 2028 — even after accounting for the 2025 capacity increase from the John Horgan Dam’s full operation — due to population and economic growth, and the accelerating adoption of battery-electric vehicles and the electrification of building and mechanical systems.

More recently, heavy industrial businesses and the expansion of data centres — including the growing calls for data centres specifically for artificial intelligence — have also contributed to this demand forecast. In 2025, BC Hydro permanently banned new cryptocurrency mining power connections, after it received 21 cryptocurrency data centre mining proposals with a combined total of over 1,400 MW of demand — equivalent to the electricity needed for 570,000 homes or 2.3 million battery-electric vehicles per year.

Forecast for electricity demand in British Columbia. (BC Hydro)

In December 2024, building on the 2023 announcement that it would need more power and after conducting a bidding process, BC Hydro announced its selection of the first 10 private sector-led projects, all of which focus on intermittent wind and solar power. That same year, BC Hydro announced a $36-billion expansion of its its electrical network over 10 years, including $10 billion for infrastructure to support continued electrification and greenhouse gas reductions, over $5 billion to address load growth and increased customer connections, and $21 million for the ongoing maintenance of existing infrastructure.

In May 2025, it awarded purchase agreements for four intermittent wind electricity projects in northern B.C. and the southern Interior, which will deliver about 3,500 GWh to power 350,000 more homes.

The utility is also implementing new initiatives to encourage customers to save power to delay or eliminate the near-term need to make major infrastructural investments.

Last month, it announced the $1-billion Power Smart 2.0 energy conservation plan to help households and businesses lower their electricity costs, while reducing the strain on the power grid. This could avoid or defer more than $2 billion in future spending on new generation, transmission, and distribution infrastructure. The wide range of initiatives could result in 800 MW of capacity savings and 2,200 GWh of annual electricity savings by 2030, enough to power 220,000 homes.

Site C hydroelectric dam, August 2025. (BC Hydro)

About a decade ago, right through 2017 general provincial election, the BC NDP were against the Site C project and had promised to cancel it mid-construction over their beliefs at the time that the power capacity was not needed and that the environmental impact from flooding a vast area for the reservoir was too great. John Horgan, in particular, was sternly against the project, but ultimately decided shortly after becoming premier that construction should continue to completion.

The provincial government determined that if the Site C project were to be cancelled, it would have to absorb $3.9 billion in debt with nothing to show for it, with $2.1 billion already spent on construction and another $1.8 billion needed to remediate the area after extensive site preparations and construction had already been performed.

In May 2026, the BC NDP-led government announced Site C would be named after the late premier.

Moreover, there could be a combination of brand-new dams and projects to raise the height of existing dams in the mountain valleys of Metro Vancouver, beyond the North Shore. Metro Vancouver Regional District has highlighted a need for expanded drinking water supply over the coming decades, which could necessitate more drinking water dams and the associated reservoirs.

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