Innergex Renewable Energy has started commercial operations at the 81.4MW Upper Lillooet River hydroelectric facility located in British Columbia in Canada.
Innergex owns a 66.7% interest in the hydro facility and Ledcor Power Group Ltd. owns the remaining 33.3%.
“Innergex is proud to announce the commissioning of our 48th site, the Upper Lillooet River hydroelectric facility. This is our biggest hydro generating facility to date, and we are happy to see the culmination of many years of hard work come to fruition” stated Michel Letellier, President and Chief Executive Officer of the Corporation.
The facility is located on crown land, approximately 40 km north of the Village of Pemberton, in the Sea-to-Sky district of British Columbia. Construction began in October 2013 and was completed in March 2017. The Commercial Operation Date (“COD”) Certificate delivered to BC Hydro indicates an effective commissioning date of March 30, 2017.
The facility is part of the Upper Lillooet River Hydro Project which includes two run-of-river clean energy generation facilities located in the Pemberton Valley: Upper Lillooet River (81.4 MW) and Boulder Creek (25.3 MW).
On March 17, 2015, the Corporation announced the closing of C$491.6m ($366.92m) non-recourse construction and term project financing for both these projects, which has received the Clean Energy BC’s Finance Award for 2015 and the 2016 Hydro Power Deal of the Year from the World Finance Magazine. COD for the Boulder Creek hydroelectric facility is expected in the second quarter of 2017.
“We can be proud of the economic impact this has had on the area, providing rural communities and First Nations with valuable employment opportunities as well as the investments made in infrastructure projects and the local economy,” Letellier said.
The Upper Lillooet River facility’s average annual production is estimated to reach 334,000 MWh, enough to power around 31,850 British Columbia households. In its first full year of operation, it is expected to generate revenues and Adjusted EBITDA of approximately C$33.0m ($24.63m) and C$27.5m ($20.53m) respectively.
All of the electricity it produces is covered by a 40-year fixed-price power purchase agreement with BC Hydro, obtained under that province’s 2008 Clean Power Call Request for Proposals and which provides for an annual adjustment to the selling price based on a portion of the Consumer Price index.