New power substation proposed for Airport Heights
Newfoundland Power staff says new substation needed at Airport Heights for growing St. John’s North area
Residents in the St. John’s North area, near the Airport Heights neighbourhood, can expect a knock on their door in the near future from employees of Newfoundland Power.
It’s part of the company’s plan to inform the public about a proposed project for a new substation at the end of Airport Heights Drive at Portugal Cove Road, and additional transmission lines.
In what the company calls a growth and liability pilot project, staff say infrastructure upgrades are being made to better serve the increasing number of customers in that area.
“We’ve seen residential and commercial growth in the St. John’s North area over past 10 years or so,” said Adam Wong, Newfoundland Power’s manager of electric engineering.
“All this growth has an impact on our infrastructure. So, we are seeing a need to upgrade (it) in this area … to support that growth and future growth.”
Wong was one of a handful of Newfoundland Power representatives who made a presentation about the project during St. John’s city council’s committee of the whole meeting on Wednesday.
He said there has been increasing usage in the company’s substations located on the corner of Ridge Road and Higgins Line, and in Virginia Waters, near Stavenger Drive.
The growth is the result of several developments in and around St. John’s International Airport, such as hotels, gas stations and restaurants, he said. There’s also been plenty of construction in the Clovelly estates area and Hebron Way commercial developments.
The upgrades would mirror those completed in 2019 at the Pepperrell station by Quidi Vidi Lake, Wong said.
The total cost of the project is estimated to be $6.8 million.
The company is in the preliminary design phase of the project. Construction would happen during the fall, with commissioning set for 2022.
There is an existing walking trail in the area, but Wong said, “we don’t plan to impact the trail at this time.”
The nearest residential customer is approximately 100 metres away.
Sheldon Bakie, the company’s supervisor of transmission of distribution engineering, said one of the major components of the project is a transmission line that carries the bulk power to the substation, where the substation gets it to a distribution voltage.
“It’s an integral part of this whole project,” Bakie said.
The two new transmission lines woud be approximately 3.4 kilometres each. Bakie explained it is a looped line, meaning if there’s any storm damage on one, there’s still power supply to that substation.
Because most of the transmission lines would be in the water supply area (Windsor Lake), the company will use steel construction, he said, adding that it will also avoid areas such as Parkers Pond.
“We are actively considering all the impacts and mitigations that we have to put in for this project,” Bakie said.
Besides safety measures, the environment will also be taken into consideration, with an environment protection plan, he said.
He said traffic control and pedestrians would also be affected, but plans are already in motion to mitigate those effects.
Dust control, noise reduction and working between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. would also be addressed, he said.
“One of most important aspect of this project — what we’re doing here today — is the outreach and community engagement,” Bakie said.
“We plan to go door-to-door in the area of the local residents and provide them with a brief of all the benefits that we see in this project and also the impacts and mitigations.”
He said Newfoundland Power is open to engaging any other community groups interested in knowing more.
“We’ll continue to answer any questions that come up,” he said. “Outside that project, the door is always open for us to continue the dialogue.”
Coun. Deanne Stapleton agreed that community engagement is important, along with noise and traffic control.
“It’s nice to know you’ve already thought of that, but if it doesn’t happen, you’ll hear from me,” she said with a chuckle.
The proposed project will come before council at its regular meeting on June 7.