BC creates competitive process and capacity caps for data centres and hydrogen exporters seeking BC Hydro power

Plain-language summary · AI-assisted · not legal advice

A new regulation requires that AI data centres, conventional data centres, and hydrogen-for-export facilities go through a formal competitive process run by BC Hydro (the authority) before receiving new grid connections or large blocks of incremental electricity capacity. BC Hydro is prohibited from accepting study agreements, design deposits, or facilities agreements with these facility types outside of that competitive process, unless the applicant wins a competitive selection and meets minimum eligibility requirements. Hard caps limit how much new capacity BC Hydro can allocate to each category over defined multi-year windows — for example, no more than 300 MW for AI data centres and 200 MW for hydrogen-for-export facilities in the first two-year period. Cryptocurrency mining projects are explicitly excluded from eligibility and wholesale utilities cannot pass capacity through to customers operating these facilities. Operators already partway through the study-agreement process before the reference date retain limited protections for work already underway, but must still compete for a facilities agreement going forward.

Who this affects: AI data centre operators and developers · conventional data centre operators and developers · hydrogen-for-export facility operators · BC Hydro (the authority) · wholesale electric utilities reselling power to data centres or hydrogen producers