THE Tahltan Nation is set to receive up to $300,000 a year from the provincial government once two run-of-river projects using water from the Iskut River north of here go into full production.
To be announced today, the money is a portion of land and water rentals to be paid to the provincial government by AltaGas of Calgary for its 66 megawatt McLymont Creek project and its 16 megawatt Volcano Creek project.
Both are set to be completed by late November 2015 and both will feed power into B.C. Hydro’s Northwest Transmission Line which is nearing completion.
The money is on top of $2.5 million a year that will flow to the Tahltan Nation from the province when the much larger AltaGas project on the Iskut, the 195 megawatt Forrest Kerr run-of-river facility, goes into production this summer.
All three revenue-sharing agreements come under the province’s First Nations Clean Energy Business Fund, which promotes First Nations participation in the clean-energy sector.
And the one for Forrest Kerr, signed in March 2013, was the first-ever to be signed under the clean energy business fund.
All three projects fall within Tahltan traditional territory.
In advance of the projects going into production, the Tahltan received $186,000 for Forrest Kerr, $12,400 for McLymont Creek and $3,000 for Volcano Creek.
Provincial officials have cautioned that final payment amounts each year will depend upon a number of variables.
The three AltaGas projects are the first ones to feed power into B.C. Hydro’s Northwest Transmission Line.
AltaGas did begin flowing water through its Forrest Kerr facility last week but when it will actually begin generating power to be fed into B.C. Hydro’s Northwest Transmission Line isn’t known as completion of the line has been set back.
“Once the [transmission line] is available, commissioning to tie Forrest Kerr into the transmission line will begin,” an AltaGas release stated last week.