Fort St. John – is a community that is continuing to grow with an increased population and as well economically.
However, with a growing community this also means that there is a great need for resources.
This includes the use of power and electricity.
BC Hydro also recognizes the growth and this is why they proposed the idea of routing a major transmission line.
Since Site C has been approved; BC Hydro wants to make the Site C project its main power source as the Peace Region Electrical Supply to help increase transmission capacity within all of Northern British Columbia.
B.C Hydro believes and predicts that the demand of electricity will increase more or less around 40% in the next two decades.
For that reason, they believe that the Peace Region Electrical Supply will be a long term solution to providing sufficient power for Northern British Columbia residents.
As of right now there are other projects that are taking place to help maintain sufficient power for the growing communities.
The current project is costing $296 million dollars for upgrades and distributions in the Groundbirch area and east of Dawson Creek.
The stringing of the power lines has already started in the Dawson Creek and Chetwynd area late last month and BC Hydro is at the process on brainstorming how they can get more electricity to that line.
However, at this time the Peace Regional Electrical Supply Project is something to be considered.
Spokesperson Leslie Wood says, “While most the route options would plug into the WAC Bennett Dam, two of the 11 under consideration would connect directly into the Site C dam. There’s a number of ways that we can build this project, and most of our emphasis has been on looking at alternatives that tie into the GM Shrum facility, either new transmission lines coming from GM Shrum, or coming from new substations that we would build on lines that already come from GM Shrum”.
BC Hydro seems optimistic about this project but also has alternative ways to approach this project.
