RC122 JanFeb 2026 - Magazine - Page 13
Most of the grid’s hydroelectric power is generated in the northern
and southern regions of the province, with nearly 60 per cent coming
from facilities on the Columbia River and 35 per cent from power
stations on the Peace River, which boasts B.C.’s largest generating
station, the W.A.C. Bennett Dam, and now Site C (third largest).
Eighty per cent of all that energy is consumed in the dense urban
areas of the Lower Mainland and Vancouver Island.
“The commission of Site C’s 昀椀nal generating unit is another step
forward to securing B.C.’s clean energy future,” Adrian Dix, BC’s
minister of energy and climate solutions, said in a press release in the
days following the CNO signing. “I extend my sincere appreciation
to the thousands of people who worked on Site C over the past decade—because of your work, generations of British Columbians will
bene昀椀t from reliable and a昀昀ordable clean electricity.”
BC HYDRO
Site C is now BC Hydro’s third hydroelectric dam on an
80-kilometre stretch of the Peace River, a 2,000-km-long
waterway that flows east from the Rocky Mountains to Alberta
where it merges with the mighty Mackenzie River.
RENEWCANADA.NET
For her part, BC Hydro president and CEO Charlotte Mitha said
the project “represents years of dedication, innovation, collaboration
and overcoming challenges. Now that Site C is in full operation, it
will serve our customers for the next 100 years and play a critical role
in ensuring a stable and reliable electricity system.”
By any measure, the Site C Clean Energy project was a colossal
undertaking for owner BC Hydro, which managed and administrated the project from A-Z. And as project leader and the professional
responsible for the planning, coordination, execution and monitoring
of the work that was done over the entire Site C dam and reservoir
site, Waite has carried a particularly heavy burden throughout the
life of the massive construction project.
It was a challenge, however, that he both welcomed and was
prepared for. Born and raised in Ontario, Waite moved to Vancouver Island 30 years ago after graduating with a forestry degree from
Lakehead University. “[B.C. was] where the big trees were,” he said.
He notably spent several years working for Canadian forestry giant MacMillan Bloedel, then the world’s largest producer of
softwood lumber, helping to design and develop roads and other
infrastructure needed to locate, harvest and haul logs to mill.
“I developed an interest and expertise in project management,
then project life cycle” said Waite, who has a PMP certi昀椀cation.
He signed on with BC Hydro as a project manager in 2007. Six years
later he was tapped to help plan the construction and project management of Site C, a project that had been decades in the making and was
one of several sites identi昀椀ed as potential hydro electric generating sites.
Given the green light by B.C. Premier Gordon Campbell’s Liberal
government in 2010, at an initial estimated cost of up to $6.6 billion,
Site C faced 昀椀erce opposition and legal challenges from various
groups, individuals and politicians.
JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2026 – RENEW CANADA 13
