BC Hydro 2024 Call for Power – FNEMC Final Summary Report
Press Release
Acknowledgements
This report was prepared by the BC First Nations Energy and Mining Council (FNEMC) with financial support from BC Hydro.
Special thanks and acknowledgement to the First Nations participants in the Call for Power Engagement Workshops for their valuable input and feedback.
Executive Summary
This report summarizes First Nations participants’ recommendations from FNEMC’s Call for Power Phase 4 engagement workshop held on April 9, 2025.
Background
In 2023 and 2024, FNEMC and BC Hydro held a series of First Nations engagement workshops to improve First Nations participation in the 2024 Call for Power design and procurement process. FNEMC prepared three draft reports summarizing feedback from these workshops:
1. 2024 Call for Power: What We Heard;
1. Advancing Economic Opportunities for First Nations in BC; and,
1. First Nations Fairness Monitor for Power Procurement in BC.
The Phase 4 engagement workshop was a forum for First Nations participants to review and discuss FNEMC’s three draft reports and present BC Hydro with recommendations for future calls for power. This report includes these drafts as appendices and is intended to be read together with the recommendations therein.
Phase 4 Engagement Workshop
First Nations participants emphasized recognition of Aboriginal rights, title, and land and resource self-governance as guiding principles for BC Hydro’s power procurement process. Participants also identified critical outcomes from First Nations participation in BC Hydro’s calls for power like equity ownership for First Nations, improved access to funding, and non-equity benefits like revenue sharing, capacity building, contracting opportunities, and training and employment initiatives.
Participants identified challenges impairing meaningful First Nations participation in the call for power process, including compressed timelines for procedural design, project engagement, and bid development, staffing and technical capacity gaps, limited access to capital, large minimum project sizes excluding smaller First Nations from participating, and cost-driven evaluation criteria forcing a “race to the bottom” that does not incentivize or uphold First Nations’ values in the bid process.
FNEMC facilitated three plenary discussions to generate recommendations from First Nations participants in reference to each draft report. These recommendations are grouped by theme below. Unless stated otherwise, the recommendations are directed toward and intended to be undertaken by BC Hydro and responsible Crown agencies, and may be supported by FNEMC with adequate funding.
Structural improvements in the call for power design process to improve First Nations participation:
⦁ Raise the minimum First Nations equity requirement to 75% and incentivize exceeding this threshold in the bid evaluation process. Equity transfer methods may include phased (incremental) ownership, structured ownership, and buyouts over time, and should prevent the proponent from diluting First Nations’ equity positions through power imbalances in access to capital.
⦁ Address compressed timelines and inadequate communication in the call for power design process and shift to long-term, co-planning with First Nations and BC.
⦁ Consider First Nations carve-outs and exclusive, non-competitive calls for power as practical reconciliation tools to include First Nations in remote areas with insufficient capacity and resources to participate in cost-competitive, large projects. These calls would be undertaken concurrently within the broader call for power process.
⦁ Consider directly investing in First Nations-led power projects or directly facilitate coordinated planning and partnerships between First Nations, proponents, and private lenders.
⦁ Consider additional factors like First Nations partnerships and values in the bid evaluation process. These values should be determined and assessed by First Nations involved in bid evaluation. Bid selection should not be solely determined by lowest cost.
⦁ Establish a First Nations Call for Power Information Desk to assist and inform First Nations seeking to develop their own energy projects.
⦁ Create opportunities for First Nations or First Nations coalitions to develop First Nations-led utilities (similar to Fortis BC) to fill BC Hydro’s infrastructure gaps in off-grid regions and independently generate, sell, and distribute power.
⦁ A participant cited the Wataynikaneyap Transmission Project in northern Ontario as a leading example of First Nations with joint protocols to facilitate energy projects on shared lands.
⦁ A participant suggested that BC Hydro explore bulk metering opportunities as a stepping stone to developing First Nations-led utilities.
⦁ Support and fund FNEMC to help First Nations prepare for the next call for power.
⦁ Host capacity and knowledge building sessions (funding and negotiating, for example) in advance of future calls to increase First Nations readiness and participation.
10. Support First Nations in generating, transmitting, and delivering the necessary green power for critical minerals projects throughout BC as part of the province’s green transition. Many mineral deposits are located away from BC’s transmission grid but near First Nations communities, and it is vital that carbon-free First Nations-led energy sources be explored and developed prior to the onset of critical mineral mining and processing. See recommendations 38 – 45 of the BC First Nations Critical Mineral Strategy.
Access to capital, non-equity benefits, and capacity building:
11. Ensure First Nations have access to adequate funding and mandate non-equity benefits in future calls for power, including revenue sharing, employment, training, and contracting opportunities.
11. Inform and provide First Nations with resources for private, provincial, and federal loan guarantee and financing programs, including funding for smaller projects through the New Relationship Trust.
11. Support and work with provincial and federal governments to establish a clean energy skills training program for First Nations.
11. Co-develop a province-wide framework to help First Nations conduct renewable and clean energy resource inventories and system capacity, readiness, and connectivity analyses with organizations like FNEMC, Clean Energy BC, Indigenous Clean Energy, and Crown agencies to enable full participation in future calls for power.
11. Develop a province-wide knowledge base and roadmap to support First Nations assessing cumulative impacts and enable more informed and equitable energy development.
11. Prioritize upgrading the transmission grid, including First Nations power corridors, to improve First Nations participation in the call for power process and power reliability in First Nations communities.
Bid evaluation and fairness monitoring:
⦁ Implement the First Nations fairness monitoring proposal to complement the existing third-party fairness advisor by focusing specifically on First Nations interests.
⦁ Develop a First Nations-determined definition of “fairness” in a substantive equality context to help inform measures addressing community capacity and infrastructure gaps, respect for First Nations’ rights and title in the procurement process, cumulative effects, and lack of proponent cultural competency and understanding.
IBF4
