Tower Placement Continues On NTL
Helicopter installs tower along right-of-way for Northwest Transmission Line photo courtesy BC Hydro
Prince George, BC – The final cost is estimated to be $330- to $340-million dollars over the original budget, but there is no stopping the Northwest Transmission Line…
The photo above shows a helicopter working to install one of approximately 1,000 transmission towers that will string a 287-kilovolt line between BC Hydro’s Skeena Substation near Terrace and a new substation to be built 344-kilometres north near Bob Quinn Lake.
Originally pegged at $404-million dollars, the line is seen as crucial to mining and other proposed developments in the northwest corner of the province. But Hydro says it is that economic activity that is partly to blame for the project being over-budget with high demand making labour and supplies more costly. As well, drilling and blasting costs have been 10-times higher than originally estimated. The utility is now estimating the final cost of the NTL will be between $736- and $746-million dollars.
Installation of the ‘guyed Y lattice’ towers began in July and will continue through the fall, before conductor stringing starts. The line is expected to be in service by next spring. The Red Chris copper/gold mine project has timed its completion to coincide with the NTL going ‘live’ in May of 2014.
Comments
No mention of where the power will come from to service these mines, etc;. With all they whining from Hydro about the shortage of power etc; perhaps they could tell us where they will get this power, or do we in fact have a surplus of power in BC,????
This suggests to me that site *C* is not needed, and is nothing more than another mega political project, to give the impression that the Province is moving forward in leaps and bounds.
How is the Kemano Two tunnel coming along. Is it possible that Rio Tinto will try to generate more power with this tunnel to service highway 37??? Is it possible that there will be a surplus of power at Kitimat once the new aluminum plant is built, and this is where the power will come from??
Who knows, these are the sorts of questions that should be asked by the News Media, so that we get a clear picture as to what is taking place in the Province.
How much power will be needed for the possible Two(2) LNG plants in Kitimat in the next six to 10 years, and why cant it be generated by natural gas is Kitimat, rather than from a Site C that will put thousands of acres of agriculture land under water.??
Just askin.
Palopu ask them. Only a phone call away then get back to us.
Seamut. You should know better than to make such a silly statement. Since when do large private corporations (multi nationals) or large Government entities such as BC Hydro answer questions of this magnitude to private citizens. It never happens.
Only the media (if they are not in the pocket of the Government or Corporations) can ask these tough questions and get some answers, and if necessary spend the money to get it from through freedom of information.
That’s the media’s job, and is one of the reasons that this site is successful.
“and if necessary spend the money to get it from through freedom of information.”
That money is nothing compared to the money to pay a reporter for the hours of work it takes to assemble an in depth report.
Only the big newspapers and the large TV news agencies have the money to do that. They typically do not get involved with little, local chit like this unless it impacts a larger picture of mismanagement.
“No mention of where the power will come from to service these mines, etc”
“This suggests to me that site *C* is not needed”
I think you either contradict yourself or you answered your own question ;)
From June of this year
http://www.vancouversun.com/Hydro+power+line+cost+Northwest+Transmission+Line+soars/8583681/story.html
“Barrett also acknowledged time pressures in completing the line by next spring to meet contractual obligations to the power lineâs first two major customers:
Imperial Metals, which needs power to run its Red Chris copper and gold mine, which is now under construction; and
AltaGas, which is building three run-of-river hydro projects to feed power into the line.”
I do not know whether that is the only source of electricity. I assume it will be hooked to the provincial grid and that the AltaGas project will feed whatever it can and whenever it can into the grid.
10 minutes …. $200/hr charge out ….
You’re welcome. I know it is not the total info. But hey, let’s get a few others involved in the research … ;-)
McLymont Creek – one of the run of the AltaGas river projects
Located in British Columbia, approximately 1,000 kilometres (km) northwest of Vancouver, the proposed McLymont Creek Project is a run-of-river hydroelectric facility with a targeted output of 66 megawatts (MW).
The project will capture the energy produced by the natural flow and elevation drop of the creek to produce and deliver clean, renewable power to BC Hydro through the Forrest Kerr 287-kV transmission system to the proposed BC Hydro Northwest Transmission Line (NTL) substation at Bob Quinn. All power produced will be sold to BC Hydro for distribution throughout the Provincial power grid.
The project will contribute to the Province of British Columbiaâs goal to achieve energy self-sufficiency by 2016. The project will also help the Province meet its clean energy needs in an environmentally and socially responsible manner by offsetting the use of electricity generated from fossil fuels.
On a national and global scale, the project will provide a clean, renewable energy source that will help meet Canadaâs commitment to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
http://www.altagas.ca/power/renewable/hydroelectric/mclymont_creek
Isnt BC Hydro the entity that
A. Miscalculated the cost of the NTL by some $400 Million dollars.
B. Screwed the Americans through subsidiary Power Ex and as a result cost us an additional $700 Million.
C. Created the BC Transmission Corp., approx. 6/7 years ago, and then scrapped it and folded it back into BC Hydro for a cost of some $65 Million dollars.
D. Brought in the Not So Smart meters, against the wishes of the populace, and with some very dubious connections to the people who manufacture this product.
E. Have to continually increase the rates of power because of mis-management, and the Government bleeding off any surplus money.
F. Pay run of the river projects 10 times what the power is worth, using the lame excuse that we want to be energy self sufficient by 2016. What significance has the date 2016 have to anything??? Just plain BS pure and simple.
G. Common sense would tell you that it would be much cheaper to import electricity if necessary from Alberta than to spend billions on these run of the river projects.
H. Building two (2) natural gas plants, one in Kitimat/Terrace, and one in the Greater Vancouver area with the cheap natural gas that now available would solve all our problems, however it would not generate millions of dollars in contracts.
I suggest to Gus that he look a little deeper than to rely on information from BC Hydro.
Palopu just try calling then judge the answer.
Gus those run of the river plants are not so clean or renewable. Lots of roads and infrastructure has to be built. Being run of the river plants when they have lots of water, say spring run off hydro also has lots of water but is forced to buy the much more expensive IPP power. This results in Hydro having to spill excess water in some cases thus wasting it for generation. IPP contracts are for about 58 billion. Site C has to be built for IPP backup because IPP power is interuptable. Site C can be built for less than 10 billion. With site C the IPP’S are not required thus we would not be on the hook for 58 billion.
Our power rate rise is mainly due to IPP contracts. A ticket to make money for friends of liberals cashing in on Mann caused climate change scam.
A recent news story on the justification for the extension of the transmission line (and its cost) pointed out the two mines mentioned above plus that 41 other planned projects are becoming economically viable because of the availability of electrical power due to the power line. The users who use the power from that line will pay for the line in the years to come. In fact they are paying for some of the cost up front. Resource extraction uses a lot of power.
Since our economy is based on resource extraction and exports of raw materials rather than exports from high tech industrial production I don’t see what other option there would be available to maintain our standard of living.
My last bill from Hydro was 70 bucks for a two month billing period. I know that many other countries and states have rates quadruple that, some people sit in the dark burning candles because they can’t pay such high bills.
Explain to me what exactly IS the problem?
the problem is the same as the problem with property tax and gas prices. i believe it was JB that nailed it:
“people just like to b**ch”
lol
I just had to post this, ties in somewhat. I guess Suzuki wishes he had his good looking female body guards near by.
http://joannenova.com.au/2013/09/david-suzuki-bombs-on-qa-knows-nothing-about-the-climate/#more-30839
It has nothing to do with bitching. Its about being ripped off by Government and Government owned entities.
We could generate all the power we need with natural gas, have the job done in three years, and for half the cost of Site C.
There has to be a reason why they are avoiding using natural gas to generate electricity while at the same time, telling us that we have a huge market around the world for natural gas. Hmmmm. Seems to be something wrong with this picture.
Well Palopu, our Premier in her wisdom, has declared that our LNG plants will be the “cleanest in the World !!! ”
So that kinda puts the Gov’t into a corner doesn’t it. No Natural Gas fired generation allowed with that policy.
Welcome to the land of smoke and mirrors. It’s called Government Policy.
This transmission line will cost about half of what the smart meters have cost BC Hydro. Far more utility for the province from the opportunities this transmission line brings than anything the smart meters will bring the province.
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