Extreme weather and a booming population now have Alberta electricity operators keeping one eye on the power grid when temperatures hit plus or minus 30 C.<\/p>\n
The hot weather and reliance on air conditioning have brought the grid to a double peak system<\/a> where hourly demand spikes in the summer, not just the coldest months of winter. But that cold winter is also what put the entire province on a grid alert two years ago.<\/p>\n So in Edmonton, where the city has also grown by around 200,000 people in five years, how is the electricity holding up?<\/p>\n At a Thursday news conference, Mansur Bitar, the group vice-president for transmission at Epcor, said \u201cthe system is strained but not at capacity.\u201d<\/p>\n While it is approaching its limit, he said Epcor does not foresee any failures in Edmonton\u2019s grid in the near future. He said there is redundancy and reliability built into the system to prevent blackouts.<\/p>\n Major power upgrade, but what\u2019s the cost?<\/p>\n In order to meet the growing need, Epcor and the City of Edmonton are undertaking one of the largest upgrades to the electrical grid in the city\u2019s history.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have had transmission projects that were probably half this size in terms of dollar amount and in scope,\u201d Bitar said. \u201cThis one is the most significant build we\u2019ve ever had in the Epcor system.\u201d<\/p>\n Dubbed the City of Edmonton transmission reinforcement (CETR), the project will bring a new substation near Fort Road, one new set of 240 kV underground transmission lines, and another set of 72 kV transmission lines.<\/p>\n \u201cCETR\u2019s system capacity will help keep pace with the electricity needs as more Edmontonians choose to adopt electric vehicles and electric heating,\u201d Edmonton Ward tastawiyiniwak Coun. Karen Principe said as Epcor broke ground on the project.<\/p>\n It\u2019s expected to cost around $398 million, money that will be recouped through transmission rates, which are spread across the entire Alberta ratepayer base. Bitar said as a result, someone in Edmonton will pay, on average, an extra 25 cents each month for energy.<\/p>\n Bitar said the province\u2019s power operator identified the need for upgrades, and the project was independently approved by the Alberta Utilities Commission.<\/p>\n Space to grow<\/p>\n Adam Brady with Epcor said CETR is meant to address both capacity and flexibility. Brady said the upgrades will let the system pump more power into where it\u2019s needed most, but also, if something needs repair during extreme weather, the upgrades will let Epcor reroute power to keep things running.<\/p>\n He said that Epcor chose underground lines because they are the safest and most reliable option, and has minimal impacts on people and the environment.<\/p>\n Overhead lines are being used in the other section of the project to help keep costs down, Brady said, adding they were able to build the lines in areas with enough space to do so safely.<\/p>\n Epcor said it has notified more than 19,000 customers of the project over a period of two years, and has engaged with around 1,000 nearby residents and businesses to figure out the best route for the lines.<\/p>\n \u201cThere wasn\u2019t much in terms of residents\u2019 or public interference,\u201d Bitar said. \u201cThey\u2019re quite happy with what was proposed.\u201d<\/p>\n Once the upgrades are up and running, Epcor is removing the old infrastructure, which is near the end of its lifespan, taking down the Kennedale Substation and its various power lines.<\/p>\n And while the new project is quite large, Bitar said that there is still plenty of room on the land near the substation to handle future growth.<\/p>\n Steady power needed for business<\/p>\n Doug Griffiths, president and CEO of the Edmonton Chamber of Commerce, said at Thursday\u2019s news conference that stable and predictable energy is crucial for business growth in Edmonton.<\/p>\n But more so, he said he is pleased with the overall cost-effectiveness of the project.<\/p>\n \u201cBusiness, they\u2019re looking for reasonable costs for power,\u201d Griffiths said.<\/p>\n In today\u2019s economy, businesses that require massive amounts of power are becoming more significant, Griffiths said. He added that data centres are an example of a new industry that uses a lot of power.<\/p>\n Griffiths said cities that can offer reliable and affordable power are going to be where those and other businesses choose to invest.<\/p>\n \u201cI think it\u2019s fundamental to Edmonton\u2019s future economic growth that these kinds of investments are being made,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n lnewbigging@postmedia.com<\/a><\/p>\n @liamnewbigging.bsky.social<\/a><\/p>\n x.com\/nubigin<\/a><\/p>\n Bookmark our website and support our journalism: Don\u2019t miss the news you need to know \u2014 add EdmontonJournal.com<\/a> and EdmontonSun.com<\/a> to your bookmarks and sign up for our newsletters here.<\/a><\/p>\n You can also support our journalism by becoming a digital subscriber. Subscribers gain unlimited access to The Edmonton Journal, Edmonton Sun, National Post and 13 other Canadian news sites. Support us by subscribing today: The Edmonton Journal<\/a> | The Edmonton Sun.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Extreme weather and a booming population now have Alberta electricity operators keeping one eye on the power grid…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":55412,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[20455,52,11809,24495,10067],"class_list":["post-55411","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-edmonton","tag-doug-griffiths","tag-edmonton","tag-electricity-grid","tag-mansur-bitar","tag-power"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55411","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=55411"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55411\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/55412"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=55411"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=55411"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=55411"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}