Image credit: City of Williams Lake

By Victor Kaisar

Williams Lake Power Plant

Williams Lake delegation heading to Victoria to advocate for power plant

Feb 10, 2025 | 10:33 AM

WILLIAMS LAKE, B.C. — A delegation from the City of Williams Lake will be in Victoria on the first day of the BC legislature’s new session Feb. 19 to “help facilitate a deal” to keep the Atlantic Power plant open.

The delegation will consist of Williams Lake council members, staff, First Nations leaders, business leaders and union representatives.

“We only have weeks to find a path forward for Atlantic Power Corporation to reach an agreement with the Province and BC Hydro to continue operations,” Mayor Surinderpal Rathor said in a news release issued Monday (Feb. 10).

“This is a very important independent power producer in our community that contributes to the overall functionality of the electric supply grid in our province. We have been working with the province for an entire year to address this problem and now it is mere weeks before the plant is forced to shut down permanently.”

Just last week, the Cariboo Regional District also called on the B.C. government and BC Hydro to work out a new deal with Atlantic Power to keep the plan open.

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While Atlantic Power has an agreement with BC Hydro to operate the 66 MW energy plant until October 2029, it is nearing the end of its current fibre supply. The plant, which burns wood waste to produce electricity, could close its doors early as late 2025.

Rathor says the plant, which employs nearly 30 people and contracts with more than 50 suppliers, has been operating at a loss for the last several years. He also said during a June 17, 2024 meeting of Williams Lake council, Premier David Eby directed a cross-ministry task force to explore solutions to the plant’s fibre supply issues.

“Since our last meeting with the premier in his office in September there has been very little movement on finding a workable solution,” Rathor said.

“It is inconceivable that the government is announcing fast-tracking new resource projects when there is a viable, operating facility in the Interior of B.C. with a simple and straightforward solution of BC Hydro paying them a few more cents per kilowatt hour produced to keep them in the black.”

Rathor also said “it makes sense” to come to an agreement to keep the Williams Lake power plan open instead of buying power from the state of Washington in the wake of the threat of tariffs from the United States.

“We have tremendous cross-sector support for finding a path forward for the Williams Lake Power Plant, and in the absence of an agreement that provides a solution before the deadline, we have no choice but to send a delegation to advocate for this critical operation in person,” Rathor said.

The Williams Lake Power Plant has been in operation since 1993. It produces electricity to supply around 52,000 homes in B.C. and is the largest taxpayer in Williams Lake, contributing $1.7 million to city coffers each year.