The mess of blackberries has been cleared and a fresh layer of gravel has been laid on the pathway down to September Morn beach, but it will be more than a month before anyone can head down to the shore and enjoy it. BC Hydro is adding two new submarine cables to bring power to Bowen Island, and this week and next are critical to the project’s success.
The cables, which are the 5.25 inches in diameter and the first of their kind to be used by BC Hydro, will be laid along the sea-floor by a barge and then woven through a duct, one meter deep in the intertidal zone, by divers. That work will be carried out in September.
This week and next, crews from BC Hydro are working on the civil infrastructure for the landing so that the cable can be pulled onshore.
“The existing cable is near the end of its lifespan, which is about 40 years,” says Calin Micu, Project Engineer. “We will keep that one in, and use it as a back up. With the two new cables, we will double the amount of power that can be delivered to Bowen Island. Also, the liability in terms of power outages will be reduced, as each cable will service 50% of the customers. If there is a problem with one cable, we can bring everyone back onto the other to make sure as many people have power as possible.”
Of course, outages caused by downed power lines will not change as a result of this new system.
Project Manager Mabel Lai says that next week the tide will be at its lowest, so crews will be working hard to get the ducts placed at the lowest point of the intertidal zone as possible,
She adds that with these new cables, BC Hydro should be able to meet Bowen’s electrical needs well into the future.
“This past winter, Bowen was at peak consumption for electricity,” she says. “The existing cables have a rated capacity of 15 MVA (Mega Volt Ampere). Last year, Bowen Island was running around 13 MVA but with the colder than normal winter we just had, it reached 14.7 MVA. Yes we could deliver that but it is not an ideal situation. Hopefully, from here on in, we will be able to serve you comfortably in the coldest winters.”
Submarine cable to Bowen project facts:
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Cost: $17M
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Distance between September Morn Beach to Larson Bay: 4.5 km’s
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Total length of cables: 9 km’s
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Weight of Cable: 225 tonnes
- Part of project also sees 4.5km of new cables added on Bowen Island.
