With fire-retardant suits, steel-toed boots and hard hats on - as well as a First-Aid attendant on standby - a small group of VIPs was led around the energized Como Lake substation last week.
The BC Hydro tour of the live facility, located off Westwood Street and Lougheed Highway in Coquitlam, was held to mark the completion of the agency's $20-million upgrade that began 20 months ago.
The new T1 transformer is the fifth for the substation, designed to "step up" or "step down" the power voltage. And the new feeder building - a two-storey, seismically sound station, complete with Hyundai electrical boxes - is geared to distribute the lower voltage from the transformers.
None of the upgrades affect nearby homes, BC Hydro officials stressed during the tour; however, they will add electrical capacity for another 50,000 customers in the Tri-Cities plugged into the utility.
Built in the mid-1970s, the substation is now at maximum capacity following a series of updates in the 1990s.
The Como Lake substation has been identified as part of the Metro North Transmission Study, of which the results from its public open houses last year are expected to announced this month.
Of its three options, the Como Lake substation is linked to two possible routes. Coquitlam city council has voted to recommend Option 2 - that is, building a new 230 kV transmission line from the Meridian substation in north Coquitlam to the Horne Payne substation in Burnaby; the line would end at the new Mt. Pleasant substation in Vancouver and be operational by 2019.
jwarren@tricitynews.com
@jwarrenTC
