Congratulations to our client, the Kanaka Bar Indian Band, for the recent publication of the story of their renewable energy project on the BC Aboriginal Business & Investment Council website.

We have been working with Kanaka since 2010 on the Kwoiek Creek Hydroelectric Project, a 49.9 MW run-of-river power facility located on Kanaka’s reserve land. The Project, which cost approximately $180 million to develop, will generate enough electricity to power approximately 22,000 homes and is 50% owned by Kanaka.

The driver behind pursuing a project of this magnitude was summed up best by Patrick Michell, the Kanaka Bar Indian Band Community Liaison: “By developing its own project, the Band would get money from somewhere other than the government and as these would be annual revenues and not a one-time lump sum payment – the impact would be long-term.” Additionally, he comments that the benefits of the project are already being experienced: “…Graduation levels are on the rise, addiction has declined and suicide has been eliminated. How? Because the vision of leadership was to take control of the future by giving the present membership hope by the simple return to individual and community self-sufficiency.”

For the full story on the Kwoiek Creek Hydroelectric project, see the article on the BC Aboriginal Business & Investment Council website. For more information, please contact Rob Miller or Ryan Klausing.