FortisBC

FortisBC Energy Inc. is a subsidiary of Fortis Inc., a Canadian, investor-owned corporation.

• 1952: Inland Natural Gas was incorporated to distribute natural gas throughout the interior of British Columbia. The company purchased St. John Oil and Gas, Peace River Transmission, Canadian Northern Oil and Gas, and Grand Prairie Transmission.
• 1980s: Inland Natural Gas purchased the Lower Mainland gas division from BC Hydro and changed its name to BC Gas, serving 546,000 customers in 70 communities across BC.
• 2002: BC Gas became the dominant distributor of natural gas in British Columbia by purchasing Centra Gas BC Inc. and Centra Gas Whistler Inc. adding 75,000 natural gas customers on the Sunshine Coast and Vancouver Island, and 2,000 piped propane customers in Whistler.
• 2003: BC Gas Inc. became Terasen Inc.
• 2005: Terasen Inc. was acquired by Kinder Morgan[3]
• May 17, 2007: Fortis Inc. acquired Terasen Gas from Kinder Morgan
• 2011: the Terasen group of companies – Terasen Gas Inc., Terasen Gas (Vancouver Island) Inc., Terasen Gas (Whistler) Inc. – become FortisBC Energy Inc.

FortisBC Inc. is a subsidiary of Fortis Inc., a Canadian, investor-owned corporation.

• 1897: West Kootenay Power and Light Company Ltd. was incorporated by act of parliament
• 1916: WKP was purchased by Cominco.
• 1986: Teck Resources Ltd. acquires a significant stake in Cominco. The two companies would formally merge in 2001.
• September 1, 1988 – West Kootenay Power and Light Company, LTD became West Kootenay Power, Ltd.
• October 22, 2001: West Kootenay Power Ltd. was acquired by Utilicorp Networks Canada (British Columbia) Ltd.
• May 31, 2002: Utilicorp Networks Canada (British Columbia) Ltd. became Aquila Networks Canada (British Columbia) Ltd.
• September 2003: Fortis Inc. acquired Aquila’s Alberta and BC distribution and retail assets for $1.4 billion, including a large section of the Alberta transmission grid that Aquila had purchased from TransAlta for $600 million in 2000.
• June 1, 2004 - Aquila Networks Canada (British Columbia) Ltd. became FortisBC Inc.

FortisBC’s Tilbury LNG facility was Canada’s first LNG facility and has provided safe, reliable LNG since 1971. Built originally to solely ensure energy supply during high winter demand, Tilbury now also provides LNG for the marine transportation industry and small-scale exports via ISO containers. As the demand for LNG as a marine fuel grows, the company is also working with the Vancouver Fraser Port Authority to develop the first ship-to-ship LNG marine refuelling service on the west coast of North America.[4] This facility holds up to 74,000 cubic metres of LNG and is also the first in Canada to produce LNG for export overseas. A lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) analysis. from environmental consultant, Sphera, found the Tilbury facility produces LNG with nearly 30 per cent less carbon intensity than the global LNG supply, on average.

FortisBC is also planning to expand its Tilbury facility to meet increasing demand for LNG into the future. FortisBC claims the proposed Tilbury Phase 2 LNG Expansion Project would improve the resiliency of the gas system – ensuring it has the natural gas supply to support its customers’ needs in times of high demand. It would also help the company advance LNG as a marine fuel or meet demand from overseas customers. The proposed project includes the construction of a new storage tank that can hold up to 162,000 cubic metres of LNG, potentially tripling Tilbury’s current storage capacity and a new liquefaction unit with a capacity of 3.5 million tonnes per year to produce LNG for domestic use, marine fuelling or overseas export.

The 20-hectare Mt. Hayes facility is located approximately six kilometres northwest of Ladysmith. The storage facility, supplied by FortisBC’s existing pipeline systems, has about a 70,000m3 capacity to store liquefied natural gas. Since 2011, this facility has helped keep natural gas costs lower even when demand is high. This project is a joint venture with the Stz'uminus First Nation.

The Corra Linn Dam was built in 1932 to control upstream storage by raising Kootenay Lake and generating power through three 19,000 horsepower units operating under the depth of water behind the dam of approximately 16 metres. The aggregate generating capacity is 51 MW. The Corra Linn Dam is located on the Kootenay River, approximately 15 km (9.3 mi) downstream of the City of Nelson on British Columbia Highway 3A.

The Upper Bonnington Generating Plant consists of six hydroelectric units in two adjacent powerhouses, a 15-metre-high concrete gravity dam, a powerhouse with two sections, a gated spillway and an overflow spillway. The original powerhouse was built in 1907, upgraded in 1916 and extended again in 1939 for a total rated capacity of 65 MW. The Upper Bonnington Dam is located on the Kootenay River, approximately 17 km (11 mi) downstream of the City of Nelson. Also at the same Bonnington Falls location, but on the other side of the river is the City of Nelson Powerhouse in operation since 1907.[5] In 2018, the publication Hydro Review inducted the plant into their Hydro Hall of Fame, a program that recognizes extraordinary hydro power achievement throughout the world, with a special emphasis on long-lasting facilities.

The Lower Bonnington Dam is composed of a powerhouse behind an intake dam on the right bank of the Kootenay River and a concrete gravity structure approximately 18 metres high. The original dam built in 1897 consisted of a rock-filled timber crib dam that straddled the river upstream of the falls at this site.[6] In 1924, the dam was demolished and replaced with a new, larger plant that included three units that increased aggregate generating capacity to 54 MW. It was then reconstructed in 1964.[7] The Lower Bonnington Dam is located on the Kootenay River approximately 18 km southwest of Nelson, BC.

The South Slocan Dam was commissioned in 1928 and has an aggregate generating capacity of 54 MW. The South Slocan Dam is located on the Kootenay River, near South Slocan, 20 km southwest of Nelson on British Columbia Highway 3A.

FortisBC also operates and maintains five generating plants owned by others, with a total generating capacity of 1,322 MW:

• Waneta Expansion Project, which is owned by Columbia Power Corporation and Columbia Basin Trust
• Waneta Dam, which is owned by Teck and BC Hydro
• Arrow Lakes Generating Station, which is owned by Columbia Power Corporation
• Brilliant Dam and Brilliant Expansion, which are owned by Columbia Power Corporation and Columbia Basin Trust

BC’s transportation industry is responsible for the largest share of provincial GHG emissions at 41% The natural gas industry claim that fueling medium and heavy-duty vehicles with compressed natural gas (CNG) can reduce GHG emissions by up to 30 per cent compared to diesel and gasoline.[8]

BC Transit and Translink both use of CNG in their bus fleets and Translink is taking an addition step to transition their bus fleets to use compressed RNG. In addition, organizations including UPS Canada, Yen Brothers, McRaes Environmental, London Drugs and ColdStar Solutions Inc. use CNG to power some of their fleet vehicles.

At the end of 2021, FortisBC had provided incentives to fleet operators for more than 1,000 medium and heavy-duty vehicles so they can operate on natural gas.

FortisBC’s Tilbury LNG facility provides LNG to marine vessels (like ferries). Conventional marine fuels have significant sulfur and nitrous oxides emissions, contributing to smog and a decrease in air quality. By using LNG from their facilities, FortisBC claims that GHG emissions could be reduced by up to 27%, particulate matter could be reduced by up to 99%, nitrogen oxides by up to 95%, and sulphur oxides could be reduced by almost 100% compared to the same conventional marine fuels.[9]

FortisBC has provided LNG for organizations such as BC Ferries and Seaspan Ferries for years. The company developed a proprietary design for bunkering LNG that uses customized tanker trucks fuelling right on board a vessel, collaborating with BC Ferries, Seaspan Ferries and their shipbuilders.

FortisBC, and its predecessor companies, have operated and maintained hydroelectric power facilities in British Columbia since 1897. FortisBC owns four hydroelectric generating plants on the Kootenay River with a total capacity of 225 megawatts (MW). They are the Corra Linn, Upper Bonnington, Lower Bonnington and South Slocan plants. Combined, these plants provide about 45 per cent of the annual electricity needs of FortisBC electricity customers. They also operate and maintain additional facilities under management agreements in both regulated and non-regulated environments. These facilities include Waneta Dam, Arrow Lakes Generating Station and Brilliant Dam.

As an electricity provider, FortisBC continues to expand the electric vehicle (EV) charging network in the South Okanagan and Kootenay regions. In 2021, it opened 10 new stations, giving EV drivers access to highway-grade charging infrastructure and supporting the growing demand. At the end of 2021, FortisBC had a total of 40 EV charging stations across 22 sites.

In June 2011, FortisBC launched a Renewable Natural Gas (RNG) program for customers in the Lower Mainland, Fraser Valley, Interior and the Kootenays. This program collects methane from farms and landfills which would otherwise be released into the atmosphere and mixes it into existing natural gas infrastructure.[10] FortisBC residential, commercial and industrial customers can opt into the program and designate a fixed percent, up to a 100 per cent, of their natural gas usage be RNG. FortisBC acquires equivalent amounts of RNG to cover customer demand for its distribution system from RNG suppliers.

In 2020, BCUC approved FortisBC’s request to purchase RNG from suppliers outside of BC. The company has signed agreements with RNG suppliers in Alberta and Ontario and the United States. In 2021, FortisBC had signed a total of 30 supply agreements to purchase RNG in BC and out of province.[11]

As of 2021, this program provided 0.7 PJ of RNG [12] when compared to 230 PJ or natural gas provided by the company, or 0.3% of the total gas supplied by energy use.[13][14]

FortisBC delivers piped propane to around 1,500 residential and commercial customers in Revelstoke, BC. The piped propane system was first introduced to Revelstoke in 1991 because the city was located too great of a distance from the natural gas distribution system. Currently, propane is supplied to Revelstoke by railcars and tanker trucks, where it is offloaded into storage tanks, vaporized as needed, and distributed to customers through an underground piped distribution system.[15]