Cable connections make for strange bedfellows

Andrew A. Duffy
Times Colonist (Victoria)
13-Feb-2005

Old? Certainly. In need of replacement? Absolutely. Unreliable after 2007? Yes.

But opponents of a proposed power plant at Nanaimo's Duke Point say the undersea cables that provide about 10 per cent of the electricity used on Vancouver Island could be coaxed into working overtime to meet power needs.

And, the plant's foes seem to be supported by the Crown corporation that maintains the province's power transmission system.

The cables are at the centre of the debate over the proposed 252-megawatt power plant that could be given life Thursday if the B.C. Utilities Commission approves an electricity purchase agreement between B.C. Hydro and Pristine Power, the builders of the Duke Point plant.

"There is some merit to those arguments (for the plant) but we believe in the absence of Duke Point we could provide the same service to the Island," says Bruce Barrett, manager of capital programs for B.C. Transmission Corp. Barrett also manages the Vancouver Island Transmission Reinforcement Project which intends to replace the existing cable system by October 2008.

Hydro declined comment after slapping a gag order on its management team until the commission releases its decision. In the past, it has maintained the cables will no longer be reliable by 2007 and the best solution to bridge the gap until the new cables are in place the following year is to build the power plant.

But environmental groups, industrial Hydro customers and others suggested at the commission's hearings into the electricity deal that Hydro's solution is tantamount to using a sledgehammer to kill a fly.

Even B.C. Transmission Corp., which was split off from Hydro in 2003 and is charged with providing power producers with access to the province's transmission system, suggests the plant may be a bit of a square peg for a round hole.

"We are not an advocate of Duke Point one way or the other," says Barrett. He says that B.C. Transmission told the hearings that if it were to miss its timetable for new cables, it could bridge power needs by reducing loads and using the old cable system.

Indeed, it's reasonable to expect the cables could be used beyond 2007, according to hearing testimony by Yakout Mansour, B.C. Transmission's vice-president of system operation and assets. But the longer the bridging period, the less reliable the cables become, Monsour stressed.

When asked if he would be comfortable relying on them, he replied: "Reasonable comfort. Not necessarily the usual certain comfort that I do ... but reasonable comfort. Like I would sleep six hours instead of two."

It's one of the arguments that plant opponents have used to buttress their position.

"We view the Duke Point Project as a very expensive 25-year commitment for what is really just a need to bridge from 2007 to 2008," says Arthur Caldicott, director for the Georgia Strait Crossing Concerned Citizen's Coalition.

"It's an entirely inappropriate solution to the problem."

Coalition president Tom Hackney says, "Duke Point would cost Hydro $35 million a year for 25 years just for Hydro to have the right to turn it on when they want to. That's $875 million over 25 years for a project whose critical justification is for just the next year or two."

A lot of that money, he argues, could be saved by adopting a load-shedding proposal put forward by pulp mill giant Norske Canada which, as Hydro's largest customer, consumes 25 per cent of all power on the Island. The coalition also recommends using the old cables in limited form.

"We think the facts speak for themselves," says Norske spokeswoman Lyn Brown. "As a large customer of the electricity industry, we are a part of the solution and from our standpoint Duke Point is an expensive long-term solution to a short-term problem."

The replacement of the cables is already well underway. B.C. Transmission has initiated an environmental assessment as part of the $210-million first phase of the project, Barrett says.

The first phase will see the capacity brought by the high-voltage, direct-current cables replaced with undersea alternating-current cables that also run to the Island from the mainland.

There are seven AC cables, six of which operate as part of two 138-kilovolt circuits. The seventh is a spare.

Under the proposed new system, three of the cables will be replaced and upgraded to 230-kilovolt lines.

The remaining three cables will continue to function at 138 kilovolts but will eventually be replaced and upgraded.The laying of the cables is planned for the summer of 2008 and they're expected to be in service by October that year.