Business & Finance Homework Help

Objectives

• Understand the economic, political, and, environmental impacts from energy project development
• Be able to weight the project benefits and challenges in assessing the viability of an energy project to proceed

Description

BC Hydro is the provincial Crown corporation responsible for providing electricity to the majority of the Province of British Columbia, with the exception of the southern interior of BC. BC Hydro operates 32 hydroelectric facilities and several other natural gas and diesel power plants.

The Site C Clean Energy Project is a $9 billion hydroelectric project under construction on the Peace River in northeast BC with a proposed capacity of 1,100 MW. Initial engineering study began in 1971, with an investment decision made in 2014 by the British Columbia government. The project is controversial, being subject to considerable opposition from indigenous people, environmentalists, academics, and regular British Columbians. At issue are similar issues that many large hydroelectric facilities face:

• The dam will flood a considerable area of land currently occupied by local residents, indigenous communities, and farmers.
• The project is expensive and the business case relies upon a future load growth that may or may not be realized.
• The dam will result in significant environmental and ecological impacts to the Peace River basin.

To evaluate this project, two position papers have been written, one for the project and one against the project. Review each position paper and complete your evaluation.

Instructions

1. Download and review thehttps://www.sitecproject.com/sites/default/files/site-c-business-case-2014.pdf BC Hydro Site C Clean Energy project: Business Case Summary.
2. Download and review thehttps://www.bcsea.org/sites/default/files/bcsea_site_c_position_-_final-corrected-10dec14.pdf BC Sustainability Energy Association (BCSEA) Position on the Site C Hydro-Electric, November 2014
3. Write a report (800-1,000 words) that is APA formatted and referenced.
4. You must have at least 5 academic sources, three of which can be the courses texts or the report itself.
5. The report should include the following information:
   • Identification of the reports reviewed
   • A description of the proposed Site C hydroelectric project
   • A description of the economic, social, and environmental impacts of the projects
   • A description of benefits and the main pillars of the business case that suggested that the project should be approved
   • A description of the main criticism advanced by the BCSEA
   • Your evaluation of the potential risks and uncertainties associated with the project
   • Your evaluation, based on these two reports (and other sources you’re able to reference), as to whether you believe the project should have been approved. Consider the economic, social and environmental impacts of the projects.