BC Hydro says it should have been more proactive as Site C costs overflowed

VANCOUVER – British Columbia’s power utility says it should have been more proactive about ballooning costs on the massive Site C hydroelectric dam project, partly blaming a failure to budget for “low-probability, high-consequence risks.”

BC Hydro says in a “lessons learned report” to the British Columbia Utilities Commission that it’s on track to complete the project on the Peace River within a $16 billion budget.

But that’s almost double the original 2014 budget of about $8.8 billion, which was increased twice, in 2018 and 2021.

BC Hydro blames the huge overrun on the pandemic, as well as a failure to budget for low-probability risks that included substantial geotechnical problems.

The utility says it should have “ramped up its internal project resources more proactively and sooner.”