Tag Archives: Cortes Island grid

Energy

The Expanding Local Market For Solar Power

A Cortes Island based solar company has been installing more systems that tie into the grid. 

There is a lot of potential for solar energy production in British Columbia. It has been largely untouched because of the province’s reliance on hydro-power and natural gas. As of October 2023, BC Hydro had 8,500 net metering customers with a combined solar capacity of 71 MW. This was only a fraction of the 4,609.5 MW of solar capacity tied to Canada’s grid that year. 

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Energy, Weather

Keeping the grid up on Cortes Island

Trying to keep the grid up has been very challenging these past three weeks. BC Hydro crews were constantly on call throughout the region, since Christmas Eve, repairing power outages caused by falling trees and snow encrusted power lines. Sub-zero temperatures meant skyrocketing heating bills. When local resident John Sprungman recently asked why his lights were flickering, a BC Hydro repair technician informed him that Cortes Island is trying to draw more power than the infrastructure on Cortes can handle. BC set a new record for peak electricity demand between 5 and 6 PM on December 27th, 2021: 10,902 megawatts.

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Energy

Quadra ICAN asks ‘What can we do when the grid goes down?’

When Jan Zwicky talked about the need to be independent of the grid, she referred to a 60 second power outage at 4 AM last year. Zwicky wasn’t aware there was a problem until she went into the basement three days later. Her freezer, which had been packed with food, was still off. Most of the contents were ruined. 

Zwicky said she is not dependant on a computer and has a back-up system that can keep the lights on, “ But boy, I don’t want that freezer to fall apart!”

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Energy

peculiarities of the Cortes Island electric grid

BC Hydro’s 2020 Annual report provides insight, but local knowledge is needed to understand the Cortes Island electric grid.

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Disaster

Quadra and Cortes Islands without power overnight

Campbell River Mirror, Local Journalism Reporter

With ferries cancelled, BC Hydro says that customers on Quadra and Cortes Island will be left without power overnight (Jan. 5). 

According to BC Hydro, 8,963 customers on North Vancouver Island were without power as of 3:30 p.m. Tuesday, with the majority of outages concentrated in Tofino, Campbell River and Courtenay. 

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