North Thompson Star/Journal November 07, 2013
www.starjournal.net A3
BC Hydro upgrades Darfield power-line The Times According to Clearwater councillor Shelley Sim, local politicians gave flashlights to representatives from BC Hydro during the recent UBCM convention in Vancouver. Lack of reliable electrical power has been a complaint by residents and politicians from the North Thompson Valley for many years. BC Hydro is working to alleviate that situation, according to spokesperson Jennifer Walker-Larsen. One example of the Crown corporation’s efforts is a project to upgrade about eight km of distribution powerline in the Darfield area. “Most of the distribution system outages in the Little Fort and Darfield areas last winter were caused on that section of line and its remote location made access for crews and equipment a challenge,” she said.
The most visible part of the project so far has been piles of 45-gallon drums stockpiled next to Highway 5 near Darfield. The new section of line will require the installation of roughly 140 new poles along Highway 5, WalkerLarsen said. The construction crews will be using the steel drums to line the freshly dug holes. This step prevents the holes from caving in and speeds up the pole installation. “The drums have been professionally cleaned to remove any residue and the bottoms are removed to allow drainage,” she noted. Clearing work along the new power-line right-of-way was conducted in late summer to avoid any disruption to nesting birds. Work on the line began once vegetation clearing along the right-of-way was completed. BC Hydro expects
to complete the line relocation in the spring of 2014. “The Darfield power-line project is one of many planned and completed projects BC Hydro has underway to improve reliability of electricity service in the area,” said the Crown corporation’s spokesperson. “In addition to the Darfield line relocation project, BC Hydro regularly conducts various maintenance activities and other capital projects such as vegetation management, substation upgrades, routine inspections, switch replacements, circuit reconfigurations, metering upgrades, and pole and cross-arm replacements.” Bone Creek not backup While BC Hydro might be upgrading the power-lines to improve reliability, it won’t be looking at the various small scale hydro projects (such as Bone Creek) either in operation or proposed for the Valley as pos-
sible sources of backup power. “The primary reason is that energy provided by run-of-river hydro projects (like solar projects and wind projects) is intermittent, not constant,” Walker-Larsen said. “While the river is flowing (or the sun shining or wind blowing) the projects produce electricity. When the sun is not shining, wind is not blowing and river is not flowing the projects do not produce electricity.” In most cases, because intermittent independent power producers (IPPs) cannot provide a constant and predictable electricity supply, it rarely pays for the IPP to install the necessary equipment needed to service customers independently from BC Hydro’s system, she explained. “Bone Creek, for example, can produce up to 18 megawatts during peak water flows in the spring but they produce no electricity during
MP marks one year anniversary of Cohen Commission’s report Ottawa – Cathy McLeod, Member of Parliament for KamloopsThompson-Cariboo says important actions and investments have been made to protect the sockeye salmon in the Fraser River, as we mark the one year anniversary of the Cohen Commission’s report. “We first put a hold on development in the aquaculture sector in British Columbia,” said McLeod. “The Minister of Fisheries and Oceans further extended that moratorium last week, so that all aquaculture development in the Discovery Islands areas will not be lifted for the foreseeable future.” Further, Economic Action Plan 2013 included three major measures that are directly addressing Justice Cohen’s recommendations.
MP’s Report
Cathy McLeod These include a commitment of $57.5 million over five years that will help bolster our environmental protection in the aquaculture sector through science, an enhanced regulatory regime and improved reporting. “With improved regulatory certainty for the sector and more predictable decision processes this will encourage investors to establish or expand their aquaculture operations in Canada,”said McLeod. “This investment will support economic
growth and job creation, especially in rural and aboriginal communities.” Budget 2013 also contained a new program to support recreational fisheries’ conservation activities through partnerships with community groups. 28 projects related to Pacific Salmon in B.C. totaling $1.8 million were approved under the first round. “One of those 28 projects was the Swift Creek Watershed Restoration project to conserve fish habitat in Valemount,” stated McLeod. “The second call for projects will begin shortly and I encourage all groups to continue to submit their projects.” The Government also decided to dedicate all revenue collected from the Salmon Conservation Stamp to the Pacific Salmon Foundation,
which will mean approximately $1 million more every year to support the Foundation’s great work. “All of these initiatives are in addition to our Government’s annual investments related to Pacific Salmon. Currently, we invest more than $65 million per year, of which about $20 million is directly related to Fraser River sockeye,” said McLeod. In the words of the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans, Justice Cohen provided us with valuable information that informs our dayto-day efforts to protect salmon. We are responding to his recommendations by taking concrete actions that make a real difference. This is what British Columbians expect and deserve.
Photo by Keith McNeill
A number of 45-gallon drums, some of them welded end-to-end, sit beside Highway 5 near Darfield recently. They are to be used as BC Hydro upgrades eight km of distribution power-line in the area. the winter freeze,” the leys to provide more near Vavenby. BC Hydro spokesper- reliable power plus enBC Hydro, on the BaseJournalRONA2007_Ang 2/26/07 3:44 PM Page 1 son said. ergy for large scale eco- other hand, has put Local politicians nomic developments, planning for a second and others have pushed such as the Harper power-line on hold, BaseJournalRONA2007_Ang 2/26/07 3:44 PM Page 1 for a second power-line Creek copper-gold-sil- pending better confirinto the North Thomp- ver mine proposed by mation that the projects son and Robson val- Yellowhead Mining for are going ahead.
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