Lack of Power Redundancy A Concern

Background: The westside of the Central Okanagan—home to approximately 70,000 residents across West Kelowna, Peachland, Westbank First Nation, and parts of Summerland—is the largest populated region in British Columbia without a dedicated redundant power supply. This entire area is currently serviced by a single 138-kilovolt transmission line, leaving it extremely vulnerable in the event of a power outage.

BC Hydro first identified the need for improved electrical reliability in this region as early as 2014. Since then, the City of West Kelowna has been actively lobbying for more than a decade for a secondary power source to protect the community’s safety and economic stability. Despite these long-standing efforts, no backup transmission infrastructure has been established.

Without redundancy, a significant outage—caused by wildfire, severe weather, or infrastructure failure—could leave the area without power for an extended period. This would cripple essential services, halt business operations, and severely disrupt daily life, causing both economic losses and unnecessary hardship for residents.

A redundant power source is not a luxury—it is an urgent and critical infrastructure need to ensure resilience, protect lives, and support the continued growth and stability of the region.

According to BC Hydro's West Kelowna Transmission Line Open House from June 2019, a decision on the new secondary line alternatives was to occur in early 2020 and the new transmission line was to become operational by 2022.

According to Debra Lamash, BC Hydro Stakeholders Engagement Lead, "BC Hydro identified the leading alternative route in the fall of 2024 and are working to defining the route. We will then continue to work with several levels of government to complete an engineering design, cost breakdown and complete various environmental, geological and archaeological studies. We anticipate an in-service date between 2030 and 2032."

Meanwhile, residents of Westbank First Nation, City of West Kelowna and Peachland remain vulnerable to extended power outages due to severe weather, wildfires, equipment malfunction or human error.

In response to the above concerns, Lamash stated, "BC Hydro pays particular attention to the maintenance of the line and the condition of the right-of-way, and we work to ensure the condition always meets our standards. We regularly complete fire protection work on the line including the application of fire retardants, ongoing vegetation management in the rights-of-way and replacement of equipment with more fire-resistant equipment in high-risk areas. We have a specialized team ready, and material and equipment available, to ensure any necessary restoration and repairs on the existing line could be completed as quickly and safely as possible. We also work closely with Emergency Management BC and wildfire officials to actively monitor wildfires and weather patterns for potential impacts to the transmission line."

Lamash indicated that BC Hydro will be holding another West Kelowna Transmission Project Open House in the fall of this year to provide residents an update on the project.