May 11, 2016
British Columbia

All of Tumbler Ridge to lose power twice this summer in planned outages

Mike Carter | Dawson Creek Mirror | May 10, 2016 | www.dawsoncreekmirror.ca

BC Hydro officials say the entire District of Tumbler Ridge – about 1,758 customers – will undergo two early morning blackouts this summer, June 5 and August 28.

The planned power outages will allow work to be completed on the Sukunka Substation to connect the Meikle Wind Energy project to the grid.

The $400 million wind tower project is about six-months away from commercial operation, BC Hydro said.

On June 5, Tumbler Ridge’s power will be cut off for four hours, between 4 – 8 a.m.

A second, six-hour outage on August 28 will also happen in the early morning hours, but “we haven’t set the actual time yet,” spokesperson Bob Gammer said, adding that it would be “at a time of day which will minimize impact.”

Both a surge arrestor and a motorized disconnect, which will allow the power to be remotely shut off from a central location in the Lower Mainland, will be installed.

Construction on the Meikle Wind project was set to began in November 2016, but the turbines themselves won’t be delivered to the site until June.

The project’s proponent, Pattern Wind Energy, has sign a 25-year power purchase agreement with BC Hydro.

URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2016/05/11/all-of-tumbler-ridge-to-lose-power-twice-this-summer-in-planned-outages/