Second Hydro line losing power

BC Hydro’s much talked about transmission line likely 7 years out

The routing of a second power line to West Kelowna will be selected by BC Hydro early next year.

But the long-sought transmission line, intended to prevent the repeat of prolonged power outages, won’t be complete until 2025 at the earliest.

And, in an update on the project from BC Hydro to West Kelowna, the utility has for the Àrst time included language that suggests the project may not even go ahead at all.

“Construction will not commence until the project is approved by the B.C. Utilities Commission (if required) and a Ànal investment decision is supported by BC Hydro’s board of directors,” reads part of a report from BC Hydro going to council tomorrow.

The most recent report from the utility about the proposed transmission line, delivered to council in mid-September, did not mention the project still needed formal approval from BC Hydro’s board of directors.

The board overseeing the Crown corporation is made up of political appointees from the NDP government. Planning for the second transmission line began in 2015, when thenLiberal Premier Christy Clark was the MLA for Kelowna West and the utility’s chairman was Kelowna businessman Brad Bennett.

In 2015, it was said by the Liberal government the second line would be in operation by 2020.

In May 2018, however, BC Hydro pushed the completion date back to 2022. Just two months ago, in the September update, the completion date was pushed back again, to 2025.

Other than including the explicit proviso the project may not proceed at all, the BC Hydro report going to West Kelowna council on Tuesday does not include any information that was not presented in September.

Some members of West Kelowna council have suggested it’s obvious the second transmission line is slipping well down the list of BC Hydro’s priorities.

West Kelowna and Peachland are currently served by one power line connecting the communities from BC Hydro’s substation in the Nicola Valley south of Kamloops. Planning work done so far for the proposed second line suggests routing it from that same substation makes more financial and environmental sense than other options that had been consideration.