B.C. Energy Minister Adrian Dix says he expects the North Coast Transmission Line to break ground by the summer of 2026.DARRYL DYCK/The Canadian Press
The B.C. government is set to introduce legislation Monday to fast-track construction of a multibillion-dollar power transmission line to the north coast.
It’s British Columbia’s big bet: The publicly funded infrastructure project is meant to secure new private-sector investments, including a string of critical-mineral mines, for the sparsely developed northwest corner of the province.
Energy Minister Adrian Dix says he expects the North Coast Transmission Line to break ground by the summer of 2026. The government is speeding the process in order to supply massive industrial projects that may or may not be built.
Michael Goehring, president and chief executive of the Mining Association of BC, said the NCTL project will tip the scales in favour of 15 critical-mineral and precious-metal projects that require certainty of electricity supply before they proceed.
“This is a nation-building project that will bring clean electricity to mining projects in northwest and central B.C.,” Mr. Goehring said in an interview Sunday. “It will strengthen Canada’s position as a leading global supplier of critical minerals and metals, and it will unlock more than $45-billion in near-term economic activity for British Columbians – and all Canadians.”
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The B.C. NDP government is lobbying for the support of Ottawa’s Major Projects Office, saying the NCTL meets the test of a nation-building project because it will help Canada join a global critical-minerals revolution by developing mining for copper, nickel, lithium, graphite and cobalt needed for renewable-energy projects and electric vehicles.
Canada has identified 34 minerals and metals as critical to the country’s economic or national security. B.C. has supplies of more than a dozen of those minerals and metals, and there are 17 proposed critical-mineral mines and five precious-metal mines in advanced development. An economic study commissioned by the mining association concluded that the projects in development in B.C. would be worth $90-billion in new economic activity.
The planned expansion of the Port of Prince Rupert would result in an enormous increase in electricity demand.Brent Jang/The Globe and Mail
The potential projects on tap – which also include expansion of the Port of Prince Rupert and additional liquefied natural gas development – would result in an enormous increase in electricity demand at a time when the province’s surplus energy supply is forecast to turn to a deficit. Mr. Dix has signalled that the province is prepared to adopt an allocation system where it chooses which industries take priority. Quebec, also confronted with an evaporating energy surplus, moved last year to amend its energy allocation policy.
To meet growing demand for electricity, the Crown corporation BC Hydro has been on a buying spree over the past year, contracting for a major expansion of private power generation in the province. Still, Hydro’s new purchase agreements for wind and other renewable-energy projects will be stretched by demands for energy-intensive industries from mining and LNG plants to artificial-intelligence data centres.
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Instead, the B.C. government has pursued natural-resource development such as critical-mineral mines and LNG. These are projects worth billions of dollars, and thousands of jobs – enough, the NDP hopes, to dig the province out of its growing deficit and debt challenge. The province’s first LNG export plant came online in June and the LNG Canada operation alone is expected to measurably lift the national economy.
An out-of-date business plan from BC Hydro estimated that the NCTL would cost more than $3-billion to build, and the revised budget will almost certainly be costlier. As well, generating additional power will cost more than the power produced by B.C.’s heritage hydroelectric system, and the legislation is expected to provide some clarity about how those costs will be shared.
Mr. Dix said in an interview that these investments are pivotal to B.C.’s economic future.
“BC Hydro started as a province-building enterprise,” he said. “And now it’s going to become a province-building company again.”
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The construction of the transmission line creates risk for the government because it won’t guarantee billions of dollars of private-sector investment. But Mr. Dix said he is confident that those investments will follow. “None of this will make the mines happen in and of itself, but it is an important prerequisite,” Mr. Dix said.
The proposed law will lay out plans for the first two phases of the transmission line, which would double the capacity of the existing electricity supply line that stretches 450 kilometres from Prince George to Terrace. It will also enable, for the first time, equity partnerships between Hydro and First Nations along the route.
Possible extensions would bring more power to the Port of Prince Rupert, which features heavily in the province’s ambitions for a western transportation network that will open up more Canadian trade with Asia. There are also talks under way with the Yukon government to extend a line into the North. A report released earlier this month by the Yukon Development Corp. describes that extension proposal as “transformational” with the potential to unlock up to $7.6-billion a year in economic growth in the territory.
Mr. Goehring said the mining industry supports B.C.’s call for federal backing of the transmission line.
“There is a lot of discussion about the Ring of Fire in Ontario, and it’s a significant potential source of critical minerals and metals to Canada and the world. But right now, we have a region in Canada that is further advanced, and that is northwest British Columbia. There’s a very strong argument for a specific federal focus on this region.”