BC Hydro completes $20-million upgrade at a Coquitlam substation

COQUITLAM, British Columbia -- - BC Hydro has completed a $20 million upgrade to the Como Lake Substation in Coquitlam to help meet growing electricity demand. Demand in the Tri-Cities region is expected to grow by two per cent each year over the next 20 years.

Substations are an important part of the electrical system. They receive high voltage power from transmission lines and transform that power to a lower voltage so it can be distributed to homes and businesses.

Work at the Como Lake Substation began in July 2013. BC Hydro installed:

- A new transformer, bringing the total number of transformers at the substation up to five

- Equipment that will enable the addition of 12 distribution feeders

- New protective equipment, including switches and circuit breakers, which connect high voltage electrical equipment inside the substation to the lower voltage switchgear – similar to an electrical panel in a home but much larger.

This upgrade is just one of hundreds of BC HydroÂ’s capital projects underway throughout B.C. that, together, make up one of the largest expansions of electrical infrastructure in the provinceÂ’s history.

BC Hydro will invest, on average, $2.4 billion a year over the next 10 years in the electricity system including upgrades to transmission and distribution systems and dams and generating stations.