A new transmission line and substation project worth $170 million is now powering the grid in the City of Vancouver following four years of construction.
The power project, which was originally pegged at $200 million, is the largest investment in Vancouver’s electrical system in the past three decades, according to BC Hydro.
The newly installed underground transmission line connects a new substation in Mount Pleasant to substations in downtown and Kerrisdale.
Workers had to bore a tunnel 30 metres below False Creek and pull a bundle of cables 850 metres in length through the tunnel to connect the line to the downtown core.
The utilities company said the project is able to pick up the slack for much of Vancouver’s aging power grid, most of which was built between the 1960s and 1980s.
For instance, the new line and substation could provide backup power to customers if an older downtown transmission circuit is affected during an outage.
