The company proposing to generate electricity from three dams located in the District of Port Edward has submitted its application for a new water licence.
The Port Edward Power and Water Company's application entails re-purposing the existing Rainbow Lake dam, Diana Lake dam and Kloiya dam for not only the generation of hydroelectric power, but maintaining the dams to ensure a reliable source of water for future industrial projects and for the preservation of fish and wildlife habitat.
The paperwork was submitted to the provincial government last week, which company spokesperson Tanner Elton said really kick-starts the project.
"Once we get the list of referrals, we will hold an open house here in Prince Rupert and pro-actively engage with the community about the project," he said.
"When all is said and done in two years, which is at least as long as the process will take, we will have a viable hydroelectric facility on Diana Lake with improvements to the existing park, which is part of our agreement with the District of Port Edward."
Elton anticipates Diana Lake dam would produce 1.5 to two Megawatts of power each year, but maintaining the aging dam will ensure the levels of the lake make it usable for both recreation users and future business.
"It's not a huge project in terms of employment, but it could be strategically important for the region particularly if those water reserves are required by industry," he said.
"The vast quantity of water in that system will be available for industrial development. We thought that would be a long time away, but that may not be the case depending on how the LNG projects develop."