Texada Island British Columbia Canada eyed for $2-billion gas and power project

Texada eyed for $2-billion gas and power project

Tanker terminal, plant could power 450,000 homes

Scott Simpson and Lindsay Kines, Times Colonist; CanWest News Service

Published: Wednesday, August 01, 2007

VANCOUVER -- An ambitious $2-billion megaproject with the potential to reshape the British Columbia energy sector was announced yesterday by a Calgary-based company.

WestPac LNG Corp. wants to locate a terminal for liquefied natural gas, or LNG, on Texada Island in the Strait of Georgia and build a 600-megawatt electricity generating facility. The imported gas would come in compressed, liquefied form in tanker ships from such places as Russia and Saudi Arabia, with about one ship arriving every 10 days.

The gas-fired thermal generating station would become the largest independent source of electricity in B.C. since Alcan's Kemano project was completed more than 50 years ago. At full power, a 600-megawatt facility would generate enough electricity to power 450,000 homes.