Telus’s plans for two Al data centres in Vancouver could hit a wall, with a city councillor pushing to pause them until the city sorts out some actual rules. OneCity Vancouver Councillor Lucy Maloney is bringing a motion to council on July 15 called “Addressing the Risks of Digital Infrastructure,” according to CTV News.
BC power is hydro electric generated. More power means running out of the reservoir water that powers the dam.
It’s not that simple.
Drinking water comes from three reservoirs: https://metrovancouver.org/services/water/reservoir-levels-water-use
Only the Coquitlam dam is impacted by hydro use: https://metrovancouver.org/services/water/watersheds-reservoirs
The water use planning for Coquitlam can be seen here: https://www.bchydro.com/toolbar/about/sustainability/environmental_responsibility/water-use-plans/lower-mainland/coquitlam-buntzen.html
The diversion for drinking water (MVWD) is downstream the power houses, meaning drinking water diversion is limited by power generation. Further, this station is used for auxillary and peaking because they are not efficient/old.
Sidenote: the trails at the Capilano reservoir are magical ✨ I ended up there by accident a few years back and nwas blown away. Accessible by public transit too!
That’s why the power for projects like this is being set up to be auctioned in a competitive process.
https://news.gov.bc.ca/releases/2026ECS0005-000095
However, it’s not really a problem at the moment, we aren’t short on power capacity. Did you forget we just spent a stupid amount of money building the new Site C Dam?
It’s not the power output max, its the hot summer and lack of precipitation lowering water level, which effects the dam at some point