Hydro upgrades
While there have been complaints about planned power outages in Powell River, the city’s mayor sees a silver lining.
Ted Olynyk, BC Hydro manager of community relations for Vancouver Island and the Sunshine Coast, appeared before City of Powell River Council on Thursday, July 16 to explain the Tuesday, July 21 outage affecting Westview, plus subsequent outages.
Mayor Dave Formosa said it has been a real conversation around the community but the upgrade has to happen.
“Demand is increasing and we are pretty close to capacity in the area,” Olynyk said. “It would be challenging to meet the demand if we had any large customers come to the area. That is why we are doing this work.”
There are 250 transformers that will be replaced or adjusted on July 21 and that is why it will take up to 10 hours of work to complete, Olynyk said. The crews hope to finish the work before 6 pm but a realistic timeframe for the outage has been scheduled.
Olynyk said the work can’t be done “hot,” meaning BC Hydro technicians are unable to complete the work around live electrical wires. This necessitates the outage.
About 80 per cent of the customers during this outage are residential.
After the upgrades the system will allow 4,800 new customers.
“We know from our records and our planning that we do anticipate growth in the area, so that is why we are making sure we have these upgrades ready and completed,” Olynyk said.
Formosa said, jokingly, “With a council like this, how could you not have growth?”
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