The Alberta Utilities Commission (AUC) has endorsed the need for electricity transmission upgrades in the Red Deer region.
Last week, the Alberta Electric System Operator (AESO), which oversees the province’s power grid, received approval for its needs identification document for the $216-million project.
The document outlines AESO’s rationale for the project to build three new substations, modify six others, rebuild three existing 138-kilovolt transmission lines and add 20 km of new line.
About 100 km of old line will be taken out.
“The need for transmission reinforcement in this region is driven by anticipated load growth in the Red Deer and Didsbury area and the need to alleviate existing constraints on the transmission system,” says project manager Jasmin Judge, in a news release announcing the approval.
The needs identification document says load in the Red Deer area is expected to grow by 3.5 per cent annually to 2018.
“The system adequacy studies indicate that the existing 138-kilovolt transmission system in the Red Deer region is near its capacity and will not be able to reliably supply this forecasted load,” says the document.
AltaLink will be undertaking the work, which will be done in four stages. The Calgary-based company is preparing a facilities application for the project.
An application to upgrade a number of substations, which is the first stage, is under review by the AUC, said AltaLink senior communications adviser Robin Boschman.
A facilities application for the stage 2 and 3 work, which includes rebuilding 75 km of lines between Red Deer and Sylvan Lake and building three new substations and 50 km of associated transmission lines, will be submitted in June or July.
About 25 km of transmission lines would be removed between Red Deer and Innisfail.
If approved, construction could begin by the summer of 2013 with a fall 2014 completion date.
Stage 4, which involves removing about 75 km of lines no longer needed between Wetaskiwin and Lacombe, is projected to be complete in 2015.