B.C. announces 9 new wind projects to power equivalent of 500,000 homes [Video]

British Columbia has given the green light to nine wind energy projects that it says will boost the province’s hydroelectric grid by eight percent a year, providing almost 5,000 gigawatt hours of energy annually, or enough to power 500,000 homes.

That number is roughly equivalent to the power projected to be generated by the Site C dam, which recently started feeding power into B.C.’s electrical grid at a construction cost of $16 billion.

B.C. Hydro, the province’s Crown utility, selected the wind power projects following a strong response to its call for new renewable power-generation operations, Premier David Eby said at a news conference.

The development and construction will generate between $5 billion and $6 billion in private spending on the projects, four of which will be located in the B.C. Interior, four in the North and one on Vancouver Island, said the premier.

“We need more electricity,” Eby said, …