Power line opponents will likely get their chance to speak against the Heartland Transmission Project next March now that the line's proponents have filed to build it.
AltaLink and Epcor filed their facility application to build a 500-kilovolt double-circuit transmission line through Sturgeon County with the Alberta Utilities Commission (AUC) Tuesday morning. The document, of which only a summary was available at press time, outlines the company's plans for the project.
This is the result of two years of consultation, said Epcor spokesperson Guy Bridgeman. "We understand this is a challenge for a lot of people," he said, adding the company did its best to address local concerns.
The document proposes to string a 500-kilovolt line from southside Edmonton to a new substation near Gibbons, which will be linked to the Alberta Industrial Heartland by another 240-kilovolt line. It recommends that the line be built above ground with lattice towers along the east-TUC route, which loops east along the Anthony Henday around Edmonton.
It also includes some alternatives. The document describes a longer western route that would loop around Morinville, as well as the possibility of putting a 20-kilometre section of the east-TUC route underground or on monopole towers. It recommends against taking these options.
The companies recommended the east route because it was shorter, Bridgeman said. "It's 66 kilometres as opposed to 84," he said, most of which is on provincial land. This, plus running the line aboveground, would make the line cheaper and less intrusive to the public.
AltaLink and Epcor have said they planned to do this all along, said Bruce Johnson, president of Responsible Electricity Transmission for Albertans (RETA). "It's another indication that the public consultation process was strictly theatre."
Cost and need questioned
The AUC will now review the document to make sure it's complete, said spokesperson Jim Law. Once that's confirmed, they'll start holding information sessions on how people can intervene in the approval process. "You will likely see a hearing in March sometime."
RETA will be speaking at the hearing, said Keith Wilson, a St. Albert land-use lawyer advising the group on the matter, and is now working on its case against the line.
One issue that's likely to turn up is need. The Heartland Transmission Project has been dubbed "critical" by the province under Bill 50, meaning that the Alberta Electric System Operator (AESO) does not have to prove the need to build it before the AUC. The upcoming AUC hearing will only address the route of the line, Law said, not the need for it.
This line is the first of some $15 billion worth of transmission upgrades outlined by the AESO, Wilson said, none of which has been subject to independent technical assessment. "I've seen no compelling evidence that there is a need."
The line should cost about $580 million to build, the document said, rising to $658 million with monopoles and $1.09 billion with an underground segment. The western route would cost $666 million.
That's a big change from April, Johnson said, when an AESO-commissioned study pegged the cost of an aboveground line along the east-TUC at about $410 million. "That's a $170 million increase and they haven't even started work on it. How accurate are these numbers?"
Thousands of people are already eligible to speak before the AUC about this project; in January, the commission gave blanket standing to everyone within 800 metres of the east-TUC or west route. Many parties have also pre-registered to speak at the hearing when it's held, Law said.
The facilities application can be found at heartlandtransmission.ca.
