Canora’s power demands are soon to be met with new investments and construction in the Canora area.
SaskPower is continuing to make significant investments in the province’s electrical system to keep up with a growing demand for power, meet environmental commitments and renew and grow the power grid, according to a release from SaskPower. Part of this goal is to be met with new plans to upgrade portions of the power grid in Canora, as well as in Yorkton, Melville, Waldrun, Churchbridge, Killaly, Theodore, Good Spirit Provincial Park and surrounding areas.
“SaskPower is facing an ongoing power challenge,” said Tim Eckel, vice-president of transmission services. “As the demand for power continues to grow, we not only need to build the grid, but we need to maintain our existing assets, including our power poles, transformers and stations. We’re investing approximately $1 billion annually throughout Saskatchewan to make sure homes, farms and businesses have the power they need, when they need it.”
Eckel noted that power demands in the region have been increasing, and just this year, residential and commercial customers in the area have made 137 new connection or reconstruction requests.
SaskPower’s work in the area includes increasing the capacity of the Canora substation, worth over $3 million, to support an increased power demand. Substations are important parts of the electrical system because they transform electricity from high to low voltage before delivering power to customers, the release said. Construction is already underway with work to be in service in early 2017.
An additional $5 million in system maintenance work in the region includes relocating and upgrading overhead power lines out of the middle of farmers’ fields, remediating power structures located in water‐logged areas, replacing and upgrading protective relays in stations, upgrading rural power lines, and trimming trees near power lines.
In order to safely complete ongoing system improvements, planned outages may be required. Customers will be notified in advance if there is an outage. Planned power outages are listed on the SaskPower website and on Twitter @SaskPower.
Eckel also recommends that residents keep trees trimmed so they are out of the way of power lines in order to make upgrading power lines simpler for workers.
