That starts with the Sumas Energy 2 gas-turbine project, which is before the state's Energy Facilities Site Evaluation Council this month. That's a 3,000-megawatt hole. Other things can help fill it, including energy conservation and wind turbines. But other sources of power cannot be tapped quickly. Wind turbines, for example, take about an acre of land per megawatt, often in scenic places, and they work only when the wind blows.
Gas turbines work around the clock.
They are far less polluting than oil and coal plants, though they do emit pollutants. Whether this is tolerable depends on who you are. British Columbia's government is against this plant but the province's power problems are much less acute than ours. The figures from the past three months haven't been announced yet, but they will be big. That's a nice position to be in.