SUSTAINABILITY, VALUE TRADE-OFFS, AND ELECTRIC UTILITY PLANNING - A CANADIAN EXAMPLE

This paper considers practical issues in implementing sustainable development concepts for utility planning. Initial sections discuss sustainability concepts, emphasizing the role of value trade offs and the need for direct consideration of the interests of affected parties to help overcome opposition when policies change. Value focused thinking is discussed as a useful approach for clarifying value trade offs inherent in sustainability debates. An example regarding electrical planning in British Columbia illustrates that holistic judgements are an inadequate basis for decisions involving sustainability and that a standards based approach is at best only a partial strategy. It illustrates that even limited information about preferences of key groups can be used to create new alternatives that are likely to achieve wider support and thus stand a better change of implementation.