Electricty: Power grid controlled locally

Langley advance by Matthew Claxton published on 05/19/2006
An unassuming Langley industrial building will become the centre of southern B.C.'s electricity transmission network. The British Columbia Transmission Corporation will be moving much of its operations to Langley, after Township Council approved the construction of its new control centre on Monday. The new centre will be built in an industrial park off 200th St. in Willoughby. From there, technicians working 24 hours a day will ensure that electricity gets from the dams and generators around the province to the light bulbs, computers, and television sets that need it. The BCTC, a crown corporation, currently has its control centres spread out at five locations. Those are now being consolidated into two, one in Langley and the other in Vernon. The Langley centre will have about 90 staff working in three shifts and will oversee 18,000 kilometres of transmission lines, said Donna McGeachie, the BCTC's manager of community relations. The building will be a secured site, with a fence surrounding the building. A low wall and generous amounts of trees and shrubs will be planted to screen the fence from the nearby residential neighbours. Mayor Kurt Alberts asked a BCTC representative about the presence of fuel tanks in the building's basement. The tanks will be placed there to fuel generators, because the operation has to keep running, even if it ironically suffers from a local power failure. "We're like the hospitals or any of the other essential facilities," McGeachie said. A minor variance to the project was also granted. Most properties in the area can have no more than 50 parking spaces without putting some of them in an underground lot. The BCTC site is actually two properties, covering seven acres, and it will have 101 parking spaces in total. Most people don't think much about the work involved in getting a light to turn on when the switch is flicked, McGeachie noted. The transmission controllers at the centre watch power usage around the province, as it spikes in the morning before people go to work, spikes again as they get home in the evening and then drops during the night. They watch for anomalies in power usage, and are often the first people to notice a blackout. They can notify BC Hydro about which area is suffering a lack of power or other problem. McGeachie said they will also work closely with Powerex, the trading arm of BC Hydro. Powerex sells and buys electricity for the province.

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Don Quixote Questions:

• Why does the building have a $28.7 million permit value in Langley but only $21.7 in Vernon?
• Why did Langley City Council approve the new control building in open council but I can't find any mention it at a Vernon City Council meeting ?

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Langley times Sep 17 2006

Langley Township’s building permit fees got a massive shot in the arm through a major industrial, building-permit application. BC Transmission Corp. took out a permit for construction valued at $28.7 million, for its control centre/office building at the Langley Business Park, in the 8100-block of 199 Street. BCTC spokesperson Donna McGeachie told The Times that construction has begun on the 5,7499-square-metre (61,860-square-foot) building, expected to be occupied in early 2008. McGeachie said the new control centre is part of a plan to amalgamate five control centres in the province into two, the Langley office, and one in Vernon.

The new Langley centre was the subject of a development permit hearing before Langley Township council in May. Kasian Architecture Ltd. is the designer, Ventana Construction Corp. is the general contractor. McGeachie expects the building will be completed by late 2007, and equipment installation, and occupancy is scheduled early in 2008.