GE Energy Financial Services and Nelson

                       GE Energy Financial Services, Stamford Connecticut

Who are they you ask?   The wolves that see an opportunity our political sheep offer up.

Political policies leaving us exposed to exploitation.   Part of the Gordon Campbell government gold rush on our rivers for Run Of River hydro projects.  They make most of their power during spring runoff when BC Hydro doesn't need it, but are required to pay full retail so these projects will have a business case and get paid off in a reasonable time.  We give our resources away all the time.

Nestle’s bottles millions of gallons of BC water for almost free.  GE Energy, one of many, have our water power and we are pay off the project and receive nothing.

Plutonic Power, a run of river hydroelectric project on Toba River on Bute Inlet. 

Plutonic Power CEO denies donating to the liberal party then changes his story

This started with Gordon Campbells government  who wanted BC to achieve total green by 2016.  We were already green and exporting power. 

Giveaway of our precious assets 

http://www.marketwired.com/press-release/Plutonic-Power-Announces-7035-Million-Bought-Deal-1059298.htm

Plutonic Power's vision is to provide leadership and create a legacy through the development of renewable, reliable, clean energy projects. Its proposed Green Power Corridor™, comprised of 42 generation facilities (including the 2 facilities being constructed by the Toba Montrose General Partnership), could have the capacity to meet the annual energy needs of about 660,000 homes.

The B.C. government started this private power gold rush as being necessary to achieve electricity ”˜self-sufficiency’. But British Columbia has been a net exporter of electricity for  7 of the last 11 years. And power from run-of-the-river projects will only be reliable and plentiful during the spring freshet. Something other than self-sufficiency must be the real objective—something like the profit potential of private electricity exports to the U.S.

http://www.straight.com/article-220116/maude-barlow-runofriver-projects-not-green-not-public-not-us

Plutonic changed the name to Alterra,   it now belongs to GE Energy Financial Services of Stamford, Connecticut.  BC Hydro must buy all their  power for 3 times their what their dams make power and let that water just spill down the river.  WE  pay for the project, and GE Financial owns it in 20 years and have the bottled water rights.

Seems to me our government isn’t our friend they are our enemy.

r.

How to Save Yourself from Nelson Hydro and City Council

                                             How to Save Yourself From City Council

Since Mr. Love manager of Nelson Hydro is presenting the Nelson Community Solar Garden project and all Nelson hydro customers will be paying for it, one has to do something to continue to live in what is becoming unaffordable Nelson.  Nelson makes money by selling green clean water power, why would we shoot ourselves in the foot and put in expensive solar that will cost 20 times more and lose the profit from the hydro sales to feel green?  This is coming if city council approves it.  After the mayor and others and Mr. Love went to some Austrian Energy institute, they came back with the vision of solar panels for Nelson.

Here is my answer, its called picohydro (even smaller than microhydro).  See my system below.

The beauty of water power is it works 24/7/365,  or 8760 hours a year.  This little $500 system makes more power from November to February  than the city solar garden can make for $400,000.

For $500 or less you can have your own picohydro this one makes about 400 watts.

Thats 9.6kWh /day = 3600kWh/yr.  At retail of 12c/kWh that I pay it takes $72 off my bimonthly electric bill.    I suspect most reading this would be happy to take $72 off their electric bill. 

This picohydro system for $500 makes more power from November through February than the $400,000++ solar garden, simply because it works all the time.   Our water system is gravity, my lights can be on when city power is off.

I figure I will put about 144,000 gallons of treated city water down the drain monthly.  I wonder how much a gallon of treated city water costs?

Now if Nelson was smart and put their already designed microhydro plant in front of the reservoir like Nakusp has done, we would all benefit and have power in future for a century or more at night, in winter a legacy for our grandchildren.  Slocan City is pursuing microhydro.   

Instead, Nelson wants solar panels in the snow for some feel good green misinformed agenda?


Our Nelson hydro manager and engineer came to us from Yukon power, they were putting electric heat tapes on their wind turbine blades because of rime icing,  when this didn't work, they put heat on the blade tips too.   There wasn't enough windpower to run the heat tapes, maybe we can get some cheap heat tapes for our solar panels from Yukon power, the wind turbines no longer function, several million dollars later.  The Nelson dam should easily power the heat tapes, hardly put a dent in the Millions a year it earns for us.
We can all feel good about the solar panels that might make enough power for 4 average homes, for what I estimate to be a $400,000 feel good project.  As Mr. Love told me it will add pennies to my power bill.  Wish I had BC Hydro,  my bill would be 34% lower than it is now from Nelson hydro.

My system above has about the same chance of  making the power I suggest as the 61MWh the solar garden is estimated to earn.   How much is 61MWh?  The average canadian home by BC Hydro stats and others uses 11,00kWh annually.  61,000kWh/11,000kWh = 5.5 homes, but that is pie in the sky everything working perfectly number that is unsupportable by years of data I have already given Mr. Love and his consulting engineer.  Real known data shows maybe 4 average homes. Could I be wrong?  I have the years of experience and real data, they have a computer simulated model.  Does it matter,  4 homes vs 5.5 homes for  $400,000.?

Going Green for those people Mr. Love tells me are asking for it, looks like we will all be bleeding RED.

Lets Get our Feet Back on the Ground from this Fantasy

                                           

Back to basics.  Solar power is a simple concept, it only works when the sun shines and very little in weak winter sun.  If future projections for demand and costs for electricity are to be met, solar will not help us, where will we get that future power from?  We have clean green cheap hydro, leave solar to those where the sun really does shine, so far its not working anywhere in the world without huge subsidy.

 Just google  "solar failure"   Spain's solar failure  or Germany's solar failure  or Ontario solar failure  soon it might be Nelson's solar failure if city council doesn't start making business decisions.



This solar garden will make enough power for 3-4 homes annually,  if you use the consultants computer model it says 5-6 homes, who cares, for $400,000 or more its useless power and every kilowatt is costing all of us for this misinformed and misguided project.

City council just visited Nakusp’s 50 kW microhydro system on their city water intake that cost $150,000, they claim enough power for 30 homes, 50 homes if you use Mr. Loves statistic.  This will work for their grandchildrens children, our solar panels will be junk in 25 years or less, might we do the right thing then? We have identified microhydro sites, one being an engineers completed study on the 5 mile water intake showing it would not only pay for that needed infrastructure upgrade but make money for the next century.

While Nakusp have a legacy for their grandchildrens children, we will have solar panels, we will still buy excess power from whomever at whatever price they wish to charge in the future when we consume the most in winter    Slocan City is pursuing microhydro to mitigate their lost income from the sawmill closure. 

Might we buy power from them in future?  We need power at night, at suppertime, in winter, they will have power, we won't.  The mayor said our hydro dam is our golden goose, why are we killing it with solar?

                    Solar panels age, have a life expectancy of 20 or 25 years and become toxic waste.

                                                      NELSON SOLAR GARDEN 2025

The future lies with those who can make power in the dark and long cold winters, so they can sell it to those who wasted their money on solar panels, who needs power on hot summer afternoons?  Solar in Nelson is only good for 10% of the time almost all of it made midday on hot summer sunny days, otherwise nothing.
Do we need to keep the lights on then?  We need this when its dark and we are freezing.

Will this city start making business decisions?

Its a small town, I know the contractor, Alex Love is the highest paid person in the city.

I find it obnoxious when the statement is made "we would like to allow charities and low income people to be able to participate by offering low or no interest loans so they can buy in"

Patronizingly obnoxious.   Would they know what its like to try and  live on minimal incomes hoping to buy the bare necessities of life.  

I am sure they will be lining up for your solar panel sales.!