Last week, Minister Katrine Conroy viewed new owner signage at the Waneta Expansion Generating Station.
The deal to purchase Fortis Inc.’s original 51 per cent interest in the project closed on April 16, 2019 restoring ownership to the originally mandated 50/50 Columbia Basin Trust and Columbia Power partnership.
Local ownership will inject more of the facility’s revenues back into the region and to the province.
Located on the Pend D’Oreille River south of Trail, construction on the project lasted from 2010 to 2015 and employed over 1,400 people with regional spending on goods and services exceeding $220 million.
On hand with the Minister were (left to right): Columbia Power Board Chair Tim Stanley; Columbia Basin Trust President & CEO and acting Columbia Power President & CEO Johnny Strilaeff; and Trust Board Chair Rick Jensen. (Rachel Brayshaw/Dogwood Photography)