Orders

ORDER NUMBER

G-339-19

IN THE MATTER OF

the Utilities Commission Act, RSBC 1996, Chapter 473

and

Creative Energy Vancouver Platforms Inc.

Application for a Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity to Acquire

and Operate a Thermal Energy System for Cooling at the Vancouver House Development

BEFORE:

T. A. Loski, Panel Chair

B. Lockhart, Commissioner

R. I. Mason, Commissioner

on December 19, 2019

ORDER

WHEREAS:

A.      On August 28, 2019, Creative Energy Vancouver Platforms Inc. (Creative Energy) filed an application with the British Columbia Utilities Commission (BCUC) for a Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity (CPCN) pursuant to sections 45 and 46 of the Utilities Commission Act (UCA) to acquire and operate a district thermal energy system to provide cooling to the Vancouver House Development in the South Downtown area of Vancouver (Application). The Vancouver House Development comprises four buildings located on three parcels of land:

•         Buildings 1 and 2 at 1480 Howe Street;

•         Building 3 at 1461 Granville Street; and

•         Building 4 at 1462 Granville Street. 

B.      On August 28, 2014, the BCUC issued Order G‐127‐14 approving the Thermal Energy Systems (TES) Regulatory Framework Guidelines (TES Guidelines) and revisions to the TES Guidelines were approved by Order G‐27‐15. Under Section 2.1 of the TES Guidelines, a Stream A TES is defined as:

An On‐Site TES with an Initial Capital Cost above $500,000 but less than $15,000,000 is exempt from sections 44.1, 45 and 59‐61 of the UCA. TES Providers are required to register Stream A TES prior to building or otherwise acquiring the Stream A TES.

C.      On November 7, 2018, Creative Energy filed with the BCUC an application to register the 1480 Howe Street Cooling Stream A Thermal Energy System in accordance with the TES Guidelines. By Order G‐251‐18, Creative Energy’s application was denied;

D.      On September 12, 2019, by Order G-222-19, the BCUC established a written hearing process and a regulatory timetable to review the Application. The regulatory timetable included intervener registration and one round of information requests;

E.       FortisBC Alternative Energy Services Inc. and Commercial Energy Consumers Association of British Columbia (the CEC) registered as interveners;

F.       Creative Energy submitted responses to BCUC and intervener information requests (IR) on October 24, 2019 and November 7, 2019, respectively;

G.     On November 8, 2019, by Order G-277-19, the BCUC amended the regulatory timetable, which included a second round of information requests and submissions on further process;

H.      On December 10, 2019, Creative Energy submitted its responses to BCUC and Intervener IR No. 2 and on December 13, 2019, Creative Energy and the CEC proposed that the proceeding move to final argument; and

I.        The BCUC has reviewed Creative Energy’s submissions and the evidence filed in the proceeding and considers that an amendment to the regulatory timetable is warranted.

NOW THEREFORE the BCUC orders that the regulatory timetable established by Order G-277-19 is amended and attached as Appendix A to this order.

DATED at the City of Vancouver, in the Province of British Columbia, this              19^th        day of December 2019.

BY ORDER

Original signed by:

T. A. Loski

Commissioner

Attachment

Creative Energy Vancouver Platforms Inc.

Application for a Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity to Acquire

and Operate a Thermal Energy System for Cooling at the Vancouver House Development