The Heartland power line might be millions of dollars cheaper and 11 metres taller under a new plan from its proponents.
Line builders Epcor and AltaLink presented plans for a new tower design for the Heartland Transmission Project at the Morinville Parish Hall Monday night. The project, if approved, would string a 500-kilovolt double-circuit transmission line along one of two routes through Sturgeon County.
Originally, the project was supposed to have two circuits to it, one charged at 240 kilovolts and the other at 500, each with three wires to them, said project spokesperson Tim le Riche. The idea was to have one line at full power, he explains, and then ramp the other one up later on. For technical reasons, that meant they had to use a short, wide tower that carried the wires in a triangular formation.
The province passed Bill 50 last year, he continues, which instructed Epcor and AltaLink to put full power on both lines immediately. This means the team can now string the wires directly above each other on a tall, thin tower.
The proposed lattice tower would be 58 to 73 metres tall, according to the Heartland team, or about 11 to 13 metres taller than the old one. It would have a smaller base and cross-bar, and would require 30 per cent less steel, cutting about $40 million from the project's price tag.
"We do realize it's a significantly larger tower," le Riche said, which could have aesthetic effects on the county. When the team submits its application to the province this winter, it will also propose using a single-pole tower in the 20-kilometre stretch that runs east of Edmonton.
These monopoles are about the same height as the proposed towers, according to plans presented at the hall, but have narrower cross-bars (20 metres, versus 30) and bases (four, versus 13). You would need more of them per kilometre, however, and they cost about 80 per cent more.
Pick your poison, says critic
Bruce Johnson, president of Responsible Electricity Transmission for Albertans, criticized the proposal as an attempt to distract efforts to get the line buried. "They're asking you to choose between hemlock and arsenic," he said. "It's completely negligent of them to not ask people whether they would prefer to have them below-ground."
Epcor and AltaLink propose to build an above-ground line, le Riche said, but will include an option to put the 20-kilometre stretch by east Edmonton underground in their application.
County resident Ron Rolf said he definitely preferred the monopole to the regular tower. "It doesn't take up as much ground space, and it's not going to interfere with as much farmland." The cost wasn't an issue to him, he said. "No matter what it costs, they're going to bill it back to us."
Diane Reid, Rolf's wife, said she'd prefer to see the line run underground to lessen its visual and health impacts. "I know it's more expensive, but I'd much rather see it buried."
None of these "sexy monopoles" have been proposed for the alternate west route, said county resident Patricia Murray, who lives within 200 metres of that route. "No tower is the only good tower until they can give us a needs study that shows the proper size of tower."
She called on the province to do a proper needs assessment for the line before it debated what tower to use. (The Heartland line was pegged as critical infrastructure under Bill 50, which means AltaLink and Epcor do not have to prove the need to build it at a public hearing.) "Nobody wants to live near these ugly towers."
The Heartland project is expected to go before the Alberta Utilities Commission early next year. Questions on it should go to the project's hotline at 1-888-441-7192.
