The future of Atlantic Power Corporation in Williams Lake will be the focus of a special council meeting on Monday, June 17 at 6 p.m.
In February of 2024, Atlantic Power gave notice to cease operations in January of 2025 due to an inability to be profitable under its current contract conditions with BC Hydro.
“The impacts of a closure of the facility are far greater than the 28 direct jobs and the loss of an important corporate citizen,” said Mayor Surinderpal Rathor in a news release.
“There are numerous community-based contractors and suppliers, as well as several Indigenous-led businesses that provide the wood fibre needed to produce this green energy."
Rathor noted council wants to host the special meeting to learn more about the community impacts so those issues can be brought forward to the provincial government.
Community members will be invited to speak to inform council how a closure of Atlantic Power would impact the community.
Atlantic Power opened in 1993 and is an independent power producer utilizing wood waste generated from sawmills and logging debris.
Williams Lake and District Chamber of Commerce (WLDCC) has been advocating for a viable fibre supply for biomass power plants such as Atlantic Power.
During the BC Chamber Annual Conference May 29 and 30 in Kelowna, WLDCC president Paul French put forth a resolution titled Viable Fibre Supply Necessary for Carbon-Neutral Producing Power Plants.
It was endorsed by 92 per cent of chambers in attendance, he said.
"The business community is very passionate about this because of the impact of taxation," French told the Tribune, adding the city of Williams Lake receives $1.5 million in taxes from Atlantic Power Corp.
Originally the resolution did not fit the B.C. Chamber criteria because it only benefited Williams Lake, focusing on the power plant, but French said they were able to show how it will effect all of the energy plants in the province.
"BC Hydro is not wanting to top up the contracts in order to purchase fibre," he said. " Remember when this was brought into play, the mills merchandised all their logs on site, there was lots of waste, that's why the power plant was created."
He said there needs to be a fair system in place so waste wood can be utilized in existing facilities.
Atlantic Power only operates certain months of the year according to its contract and while it was curtailed, BC Hydro was purchasing power from Washington State during the cold snap, French said.
"We were able to convince the other chambers - Surrey and Delta were the key ones who came on board - of how ridiculous this is because these generation plants can burn virtually anything," French said.
Through the resolution, the WLDCC stressed the need to negotiate a sustainable fibre supply and advocated for power purchase agreements to reflect the cost of transporting available fibre to power plants.
"Their contract prior was based on free timber and what's happened now is it has gone to the open market," French said. "The government needs to allocate this wood to go to the different people who may be able to use it or Hydro needs to provide a contract to be able to pay that additional cost."
The Tribune has reached out to BC Hydro for comment.
