British Columbia Transmission Corporation (BCTC) – Project Title: “Vancouver Island Transmission Reinforcement Project” (VITR) – 2 x 230kV, 1200 Megawatt Transmission Lines from Arnott Substation in Ladner to the Vancouver Island Terminal north of Duncan.

BCTC is presently planning to build a new, much larger transmission line through the center of Tsawwassen to serve Vancouver Island.

The proposed lines have a design life of over 60 years. The associated impacts will affect more than three future generations of Tsawwassen and Ladner residents. 

The power transmitted over the lines will be 1,200,000,000 Watts, twenty three times more power than transmitted over the existing lines.

This project has been planned for over 10 years and was recently advanced for construction in 2006-2007. Tsawwassen residents were only notified of this project December 3rd, 2004. No prior consultation was made with the communities impacted.

BCTC plans to reuse the existing right of way, established in 1955 when Tsawwassen was mainly forest and a few open spaces. The ferry terminal, Highway 17 and the George Massey tunnel were not built until 1960. 

BCTC proposes to build this new line utilizing 30m (100’) steel towers carrying up to 12 cables in the existing right of way through the heart of Tsawwassen. These towers will be twice the height of the existing poles and will carry up to 5 additional cables.

The peak power transmitted would be 1500Amps @ 242,000 Volts.

Proposed tower image: