The Tahltan First Nation in northwestern British Columbia has made history after making one of the largest clean energy investments ever by a B.C. First Nation.
The Tahltan Nation has announced that they've purchased a five percent stake in Northwest British Columbia Hydro Electric Facilities at a value of over $124 million.
The Tahltan Territory encompasses almost 96,000 kilometres, or 11% of British Columbia, in the northwest portion of the province. A small portion of their territory also encompasses south-central Yukon.
The purchase is believed to be the biggest ever by a First Nation in British Columbia, and the clean energy investment means the Tahltan Government now owns a part of three hydro-electric generating stations worth $2.5 billion within their traditional territory.
Tahltan Central Government President Chad Day says the investment will pay off quickly, particularly once the First Nation pays off a loan that was needed to cover part of the acquisition.
"What I can tell you is that the dividends from the five percent interest that we're buying, starting in year one, are going to be in the seven figures. We're probably going to exceed $200 million just in dividends alone over the next 57 years."
The investments include the 66-megawatt McLymont Creek, the 17.7-megawatt Volcano Creek and the 195-megawatt Forrest Kerr hydroelectric projects.
Also outlined in the agreement is the opportunity for the First Nation to buy further equity in the ownership down the road, which is expected to deliver more return in investment for the First Nation.
Day says there will be community collaboration and consultation regarding how the money is spent by the First Nation that is generated by the dividends.
"The Tahltan Heritage Trust will be working with Tahltan leadership and will be doing thorough consultation with members to help set up a foundation or mechanism to make decisions regarding how we spend the funds around our territory. We suspect there will some investments towards education training, infrastructure, for youth and elders, health and other things. It's really exciting."
The Tahltan Nation has a history of making big energy investments, which included a further two million dollar investment at one of the three hydro-electric generations within it's traditional territory back in 2011.
Axium, Manlife and an AltaGas Canada subsidiary own the remaining shares in the facilities.
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