Over the next two decades, the B.C. government expects the province’s population to grow by 2.4 million, with much of the growth concentrated in the Lower Mainland and Southwest region.
Most of that growth—to 7.9 million by 2046 from 5.5 million in 2023—will come from immigration and migration from other provinces. Accommodating it will require billions of dollars worth of new and enhanced public works infrastructure, from sewage and water tunnels, to public transportation and electricity.
“Our population in B.C. grew by three per cent from July 2022 to July 2023,” BC Hydro CEO Chris O’Riley said recently, when announcing that $250 million will be spent on Richmond substation upgrades. “That’s the biggest yearly jump our province has seen in 50 years. It was the City of Richmond that saw the highest population growth among all Metro Van communities.”
In the case of electricity, it’s not just population growth driving demand. B.C.’s decarbonization plans under its CleanBC framework are also expected to increase the need for more clean power. If the B.C. government succeeds in meeting its targets for electric vehicle and electric heat pump adoption, this will not only require more power generation—it will require beefing up local distribution.
“We’re forecasting 15 per cent or more [in load growth] by the end of the decade, and more beyond that,” O’Riley said.
Population growth, new home construction, industry growth and technology adoption will play a factor, according to the province.
“Cities like Richmond are growing,” said Josie Osborne, minister of energy, mines and low carbon innovation. “We need to make sure that we are ready to meet the growing demand for clean power and that we can get the power to where it’s needed when it’s needed.”
To accommodate that growth, BC Hydro is spending $57 billion over the next decade on new power generation, transmission and distribution. That includes $21 billion for generation, $16 billion for the Site C dam and roughly $5 billion for 3,000 gigawatts of new renewable electricity from independent power producers.
BC Hydro said it plans to spend $36 billion over the next decade on non-generation power infrastructure, such as transmission and distribution. That is a 50-per-cent increase over its previous 10-year capital plan.
Of the $36 billion it plans to spend over the next decade, $21 billion will be spent operations and maintenance, upgrading transformers, substations and existing dams and reservoirs, and replacing 100,000 power poles and 25,000 transformers. BC Hydro also plans to spend $5 billion alone on new customer connections.
One of the biggest-ticket items in the Crown corporation’s 10-year capital plan is a $3.5 billion expansion of high-voltage transmission lines between Prince George and Terrace. This involves building new 500-kilovolt transmission lines, expansions to capacitor stations and upgrades to substations.
Other transmission projects include:
• A new 230-kilovolt transmission reinforcement line that will bring power from a Surrey substation;
• Replacement of 138-kilovolt submarine cables in the Strait of Georgia with new 230-kilovolt cables, and upgrades to the Arnott substation in Delta and the Vancouver Island Terminal substation near Duncan; and
• An extension of the transmission system in Northeastern B.C. with a 230-kilovolt transmission line.
In the Lower Mainland, BC Hydro is planning for several new and expanded substations by the end of this decade, including:
• A new substation in North Surrey to be built and in service by 2032;
• A new substation to accommodate an anticipated 40,000 to 70,000 new homes in the Colwood-Langford area on Vancouver Island, in service in 2030; and
• An upgrade to Vancouver’s Mount Pleasant substation, with additional transformer capacity and feeder sections to supply an additional 30,000 to 50,000 homes in the area, in service in 2029.
A number of the capital works projects in BC Hydro’s 10-year capital works plan were announced in recent weeks. They include:
• $6 billion for the Southern Interior, including upgrades to hydro-electric dams and $450 million for transmission line upgrades, including the West Kelowna Transmission, and an upgrade to the Westbank substation to add more capacity for 26,000 new homes;
• $3 billion for Vancouver Island, including a new substation in Langford, upgrades to hydro-electric dams in Campbell River and additional distribution infrastructure for growing urban areas like Victoria, Nanaimo and Langford;
• $1.25 billion for Burnaby to accommodate 98,000 to 170,000 more residents with expansions to four substations and one new substation for Metrotown;
• $1 billion for Surrey, including two new substations and upgrades to two existing substations to address power requirements for an additional 90,000 to 157,000 people;
• $1 billion for infrastructure in Chilliwack, Abbotsford, Mission, Hope and Harrison Hot Springs over the next decade, including upgrades to three substations and $800 million worth of expanded transmission lines;
• $725 million for Langley to accommodate 80,000 to 140,000 new homes with a new substation in Willoughby-Clayton, upgrades to two existing substations—McLellan and Campbell Heights—and upgrades to transmission lines;
• $500 million for infrastructure upgrades for the North Shore and Sea to Sky regions, including $300 million to upgrade the Cheakamus Dam, $120 million to replace and upgrade substations in Lynn Valley, Squamish and Pemberton, new transmission lines and 10 kilometres of underground electrical infrastructure; and
• $250 million for Richmond for upgrading substations in Steveston and central-north Richmond to accommodate 30,000 to 53,000 new homes.
