INNISFAIL — Alterations to a Calgary company’s plan to build a new power line through Central Alberta are still meeting opposition from landowners.
AltaLink has started a new round of public consultations in connection with the 500-kilovolt line it plans to build from the Genesee plant, west of Edmonton to a site near Calgary, where it will connect with consumers in the southern areas of the province.
There is no question that Alberta needs the additional transmission capacity, said Leigh Clarke, senior vice president of the company.
Despite growth, Alberta’s transmission system hasn’t been improved in 30 years, said Clarke.
“The system right now is quite heavily loaded. (The lines) end up heating up and causing losses, and these losses cost Albertans in the order of about four million bucks a month,” he said.
Contrary to accusations that Albertans are paying for lines so AltaLink can profit from the export of electricity, the lines are not for export, said Clarke.
In reality, the money being spent to build the lines — at a cost of roughly $1.10 per month per residential consumer — will be offset by the improved efficiency, he said.
Clarke was among a large contingent of AltaLink staff who met one-on-one with 133 people during an open house in Innisfail on Tuesday, the fourth in a series of 11 meetings that started in Olds on Aug. 17 and wraps up in Indus on Sept. 9.
Public input gained from the meetings will be used to draft a final application, to be forwarded early next year to the Alberta Utilities Commission.
AltaLink has responded to public concerns in a number of ways, including eliminating some of the routing options it had originally planned and adjusting others, said Clarke.
Additionally, the proposed line has been changed from alternating current to a direct current, in part because of issues raised in prior meetings, he said.
While more expensive to build than an AC line, the DC line has a smaller environmental footprint and its capacity can be increased without making any changes in its physical structure, said Clarke.
But people attending the meeting weren’t all buying in, largely because the controversial route that goes past Rimbey and Eckville on its way south is still on the table.
Coralee Mobley, who owns land near the Gleniffer Lake reservoir, said the only way she will be satisfied is if the western route is scrubbed altogether and the line routed east of Hwy 2 — the further east the better.
Mobley’s concerns were backed by another residents from the same area.
Wanda Lohman said there are already enough power lines running through the area.
Her concerns include health risks to people and livestock, the extra cost of farming around the towers and the risks of a major blackout if there’s a bad storm in the area. Building the new line further east would take it through a more sparsely populated region and provide some insurance against storm damage, said Lohman.
Springbrook resident Paul Pettypiece said that while he does not have the same stake in the route as people like Mobley and Lohman, he appreciates that it has been difficult to sort fact from fiction.
He concurred with Lohman’s point that a route in the eastern part of the province would likely meet less opposition from area landowners because of the sparser population in that part of the province.
“I understand the need for it. I also understand that people would have concerns about the lines going through their properties,” said Pettypiece.
“It needs to be done. When the lights go out, people will wonder why it didn’t happen sooner,” he said.
ATCO Electric is also planning a new power line, to run down the eastern side of the province.
AltaLink’s Open houses continue from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the Pine Lake Ag Park tonight and the Eckville Community Centre on Thursday.
Meetings resume during the same time frame next week, starting with the Warburg Community Centre on Monday, Ponoka Kinsmen Community Centre on Tuesday and Rimbey Community Centre on Wednesday.
bkossowan@www.reddeeradvocate.com