The AUC has approved upgrades to a stretch of 40-year-old local transmission line which will double the capacity of voltage to the east side of the city.--NEWS FILE PHOTO
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On Tuesday, the Alberta Utilities Commission approved upgrades to a 40-year-old electrical transmission line on the city’s east side to support projected growth in the area.
The East Ring Enhancement Project was originally announced in 2023 and looks to provide more juice to Brier Park, northeast Crescent Heights, Ranchlands, Parkview and Southlands. The line would also extend into Cypress Hills.
Specifically, the 24-kilometre transmission line upgrades will increase voltage to 138 kilovolts from 69 kV, providing double capacity that will support commercial and residential growth projected in the area.
“The regulatory process gave careful consideration to environmental information, public feedback, engineering limitations and route selection best practices in reaching its decision,” said Christy Garland, manager of engineering operations for the city, in a press release. “We’re pleased that our preferred route met their expectations and we’re looking forward to strengthening our electrical system for the future.”
Construction is expected to begin in early 2027 and should be completed in 2029
The city began engaging with the community in October 2023 and submitted a facility application to the AUC the following October.
That submission filed in 2024 showed two preferred and alternate routes in the north and south that would carry power through the Northlands neighbourhood or along Altawana Drive, and along S. Boundary Road or the Trans-Canada Highway.
In the north, the line that runs along Rotary Centennial Drive will jog south at 11th Avenue in the preferred route, before heading east at 20th Street to rejoin the existing right of way at Altawana Drive.
There it will connect to existing lines that run through a portion of the community of Parkview, while an alternate proposal would have carried the line along the curve of Altawana Drive to the 20th Street NE intersection.
The line then runs east, and eventually back to South Ridge via mainly Range Roads 52 and 53 in Cypress County.
It will head west at Township Road 122 to the city limits. There, the preferred route sees it travel a right of way extending from the continuation of S. Boundary Road and that road itself to 16th Avenue.
The alternate route would have carried it along the Trans-Canada Highway inside city limits, before moving south behind car dealerships and Holy Family Catholic Church near 16th Avenue to join the South Ridge substation on 16th Avenue.
