By paNOW

Martensville unhappy with Sask Power’s power line plan

Feb 28, 2013 | 11:40 PM

Martensville city council is up in arms about SaskPower’s continued pressure to bring a double-circuit transmission power line through an area they have planned for the city’s newest neighbourhood.

Martensville Mayor Kent Muench said despite voicing his administration’s concerns over the path of the power lines, SaskPower is still planning to move ahead. It plans to bring a new 230 Kilovolt power line just to the east of Martensville and having it skirt the city’s southern boundary.

“We had an official community plan that had future growth and concept mapping and we went through the process of public input, and then it wasn’t really taken into account in this whole process,” said Muench.

“I understand that everyone has their own needs. The RM (of Corman Park) has needs and everyone has their own needs. It’s just disappointing that our concept plan wasn’t really taken into account.”

Bernie Bolen, manager of stakeholder engagement and consultation, appeared in front of Martensville council a couple of weeks ago, explaining SaskPower’s views and explaining the company’s needs for this transmission line.

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Muench said at the end of the meeting, the two sides agreed to disagree and nothing was resolved.

Bolen was in Saskatoon on Feb. 28, at a SaskPower open house at the Travelodge on Circle Drive.

Bolen outlined SaskPower’s needs for the transmission lines, to improve reliability and create more of a secure network. Currently, Saskatoon and communities to the north and east get their power from the Queen Elizabeth power station south of the bridge city.

“All of our supply is coming from one location so it’s not great for reliability, backup and contingency planning,” said Bolen.

“By bringing another supply source into the north side of Saskatoon is really key so we’re not solely dependent on that Queen Elizabeth station.”

The total cost of the project is estimated right now at $65 million and involves building two switching stations, one Martensvills and another in Aberdeen, and 150 kilometres of double-circuit power lines.

Muench said his council has done everything it can do to stop the power line from impeding its plans for a future neighbourhood, and he’s not very optimistic that this issue will be resolved.

“We’ve sent a letter to the minister and SaskPower and we’ve done all the things we can do, so now we’re just going to have to work with the RM and hopefully SaskPower to mitigate this project,” said Muench.

“I guess SaskPower has the final say in this.”

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