BC Hydro will be holding an open house in Prince George on May 10 to inform the public about the North Coast Electrification project.
The proposed project would see 450 km of 500-kilovolt transmission lines built between the Williston substation near Prince George to the Skeena substation near Terrace. The project would be divided into two parts: the Prince George to Glenannan Transmission Project – roughly 170 km of lines from Williston to the Glenannan substation near Fraser Lake – and the Glenannan to Terrace Transmission Project, including 130 km of line from Glenannan to Telkwa substation and 145 km from Telkwa to Skeena.
“The North Coast of B.C. is seeing significant growth in many areas, including ports, mining, clean fuels, technology and liquified natural gas,” according to information released by BC Hydro. “While industry has expressed an interest in using clean electricity to replace fossil fuels and reduce greenhouse gas emissions, the potential electricity demand exceeds the capacity of the existing transmission lines and associated infrastructure.”
Each section of the route would include a capacitor station along the route, according to information released by BC Hydro.
The open house in Prince George will take place at the Sandman Signature Hotel, located at 2990 Recreation Pl., from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. on May 10.
Virtual open houses will be held from 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. on May 23 and May 31. To sign up for the virtual events, register by emailing projects@bchydro.com by May 18.
In 2022, BC Hydro began work on three new capacitor stations along the existing 500 kV lines between Prince George and Terrace – one each near Vanderhoof, Burns Lake and Telkwa. Capacitor stations boost the amount of power a transmission line can carry.
For more information, go online to BC Hydro’s website.
