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BC Hydro upgrading Clearwater substation

Christy Clark’s recent statement in support of a new power transmission line isn’t the only local electricity-related story

Premier Christy Clark’s recent statement in support of a new power transmission line into the North Thompson Valley isn’t the only electricity-related story happening locally.

The transformer in the Clearwater substation failed on May 19 according to BC Hydro spokesperson Dag Sharman.

“As per our redundancy planning, distribution circuits were re-configured to deliver power from the Vavenby substation and have been doing so since that time,” he said. “BC Hydro engineers these ‘back-up’ plans into our systems for reliability.

He added that there have been no problems or issues with Vavenby substation during this time. It has performed as expected.

BC Hydro crews have been conducting some maintenance work at the Clearwater substation while the transformer has been out and customers being fed from Vavenby.

A replacement transformer is on site in Clearwater and being prepared for service.

“We expect to have it installed and in operation in late October,” said Sharman.

 

The replacement transformer is of higher capacity than the old transformer. The old transformer was an 18-megavolt amperes (MVA) unit and the replacement is 25MVA.