Premier John Horgan is confident that B.C. Hydro is on top of repairing bulging and leaking undersea cables which deliver about 70 per cent of Vancouver Island’s power from the mainland.
The cables, with mineral oil in the middle covered in copper and lead and encased in concrete, were inspected in June but monitoring performed after the heat wave abated found problems. The three affected cables run from the Sunshine Coast, over Texada Island, go back underwater and then come ashore at Nile Creek near Qualicum.
The portion of the cable which leaked is at Nile Creek about 1.5 to 1.6 metres underground. The sections of the other two cables bulges are on Texada Island.
“I’m confident that Hydro has the submarine cable issue in hand,” said Horgan, on Tuesday. “There are redundancies built into the system, but this is an extraordinary turn of events.”
The Island’s largest industrial customers are on standby, told they could be forced to cut power use, but B.C. Hydro spokesman Ted Olynyk said that hasn’t happened and there is no issue with being able to supply power to the Island.
This is a traditionally low usage time of year, when about 1,000 megawatts of power are consumed daily — about half what is typically used during the winter on the Island. But without typically cooler summer nights, Horgan said more people are using fans and air conditioning.
“That will have an impact on industrial customers, to be sure, but I’m confident that Hydro can manage its load,” said Horgan. “They know what they’re doing and they’ve discovered the problem, they’ve identified it, and they’re taking steps to correct it.”
Olynyk said there was no update Tuesday on the long-term repairs as B.C. Hydro continues to investigate why the bulges in the cables occurred though the utility has speculated the recent heat wave was to blame for the damage. B.C. Hydro is continuing to use its other underwater cables and has turned to independent power producers on Vancouver Island which have contracts to supply power.
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