Putting solar on Hydro rights-of-way not so simple
Re: “No need to use farmland”
After 40-plus years in local real estate, one of the first things one learns is tenure of ownership of real estate.
A right-of-way (ROW, or R/W) does not give the holder (in this case BC Hydro), the right to erect solar panels on the ROW unless this use was negotiated into the agreement when the original ROW was negotiated. The two R/Ws that run from the substation to Goldstream were negotiated prior to 1949 and I don’t believe solar panels existed at that time.
Any plan to place solar panels on the R/W would require renegotiation with each landowner who still holds legal title to the land under the power lines. With the current value of land, the costs to BC Hydro would be prohibitive and the project becomes unworkable! Also think of the liability and possibility of theft of the panels in the vast areas of rural, undeveloped properties along the R/W.
Robert Swanson
Chemainus
