Burnaby's building boom triggers $1.25 billion of new substations

Burnaby's building boom triggers $1.25 billion of new BC Hydro substation projects

BC Hydro's existing Hore Pay substation at 4501 Lougheed Highway in the Brentwood area of Burnaby. (Google Maps)

With the City of Burnaby leading Metro Vancouver’s residential building boom, BC Hydro is now planning to make a historic investment in the municipality’s electrical infrastructure to significantly boost capacity.

Today, the provincial electric utility announced a $1.25 billion capital investment within Burnaby alone, with all projects to be completed over the next 10 years.

High-density residential developments, especially transit-oriented developments near Burnaby’s SkyTrain stations, will continue to add substantial population and increase electrical demand. This is especially the case for the areas of Brentwood Town Centre, Metrotown, and the general area between Lougheed Town Centre and Burquitlam.

Tens of thousands of additional homes are planned for each of the Brentwood Town Centre, Lougheed Town Centre, and Metrotown areas, including the future long-term redevelopment of Metropolis at Metrotown mall.

Recent provincial legislation will also add density to other SkyTrain stations and single-family neighbourhoods across Burnaby.

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There is also increasing electrical demand from industrial growth in the Lake City area just southwest of Burnaby Mountain and in the Big Bend industrial area in South Burnaby.

Another major factor in the forecast for electrical demand growth is the continued electrification of buildings and transportation — away from fossil fuel sources.

“We must build out BC’s electrical system like never before, to power our homes and businesses, to power a growing economy and to power our future,” said Josie Osborne, BC Minister of Energy, Mines and Low Carbon Innovation, in a statement.

BC Hydro’s plan through the early 2030s now entails substantially upgrading and expanding four existing Burnaby substations and constructing one additional major substation.

The existing Horne Payne substation at 4501 Lougheed Highway within Brentwood will see an upgrade that will boost its powering capacity by 10,000 to 17,500 homes. It will reach completion in 2027.

An upgrade for the existing Newell substation at 6789 Kingsway in the Edmonds area will increase its capacity by an additional 10,000 to 17,500 homes also by 2027.

The Lougheed substation at 2769 Sperling Avenue (on Lougheed Highway) will see an expansion for an additional 20,000 to 35,000 homes by 2029.

The expansion of the Barnard substation at 9450 Broadway near the southeast base of Burnaby Mountain in Burquitlam will provide capacity for an additional 18,000 to 30,000 homes by 2029.

Additionally, there will be a brand-new additional substation in the Metrotown area to power an additional 40,000 to 70,000 homes. It will be built by 2033.

Upon full buildout, all five of these substation projects will provide additional power capacity for between 98,000 and 170,000 homes.

Beyond new and improved substations, BC Hydro will also perform a voltage conversion project in Metrotown and Barnard, which will upgrade equipment to a higher voltage to improve power quality and reliability without having to add more power lines and equipment.

According to the provincial government’s statistics division, Burnaby’s population is expected to rise from 287,000 in 2024 to over 392,000 by 2046. Over the same period, the number of households in Burnaby will grow from 110,000 to nearly 152,000.

“In growing cities like Burnaby, where we are seeing significant housing, building, transportation and industrial growth, we are embarking on significant upgrades to our electricity system, including investments in new and expanded substation projects as well as voltage conversion projects to ensure we can continue to provide reliable and clean electricity to our customers,” said Chris O’Riley, president and CEO of BC Hydro.

“We are also making important changes to our customer connections process to speed up timelines for newly constructed homes and buildings.”

There are growing concerns and questions over the scope of investments needed in infrastructure, healthcare, and education in order to adequately accommodate BC’s growing population due to immigration and ambitious housing supply and affordability policies.

The $1.25 billion investment within Burnaby alone is part of BC Hydro’s updated 10-year capital plan of $36 billion in regional and community infrastructure investments across the province, which was announced in January 2024. This is a 50% increase in investments over the utility’s previous plan due to population and economic growth, the accelerating shift towards the electrification of building systems and the adoption of battery-electric vehicles.

Additionally, separate from the 10-year capital plan, BC Hydro is also looking to buy 3,100 gigawatt hours (GWh) of additional electricity each year starting in the late 2020s. For the same reasons, the need to buy more power is much sooner than anticipated, and the amount is equivalent to about 60% of the capacity of the new Site C hydroelectric dam, which is expected to reach completion next year. BC Hydro’s updated forecast already includes the anticipated major capacity increase from the operation of Site C.

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