The Village of Medstead, incorporated 86 years ago, is experiencing a surge of development to its electrical system.
Work has commenced on the large-scale project set to convert the entire village’s primary voltage and transformation system from 2.4kV to 25kV. The changes are to better accommodate the increasing requirements for electrical supply within the municipality.
The parking lot of the local leisure centre has become home to a plethora of power equipment; an assortment of transformers and spooled wire awaiting installation and a variety of poles to be erected. Numerous workers and industrial vehicles maneuver the streets through fair and snowy weather in pursuit of these upgrades.
Ground broke on the improvements in mid-March and is expected to continue until mid-May.
The scope of the Medstead project includes installation of one new Ground Operated Pole Top (GOPT) switch and replacement of 25 transformers. The work will include replacing existing crossarms and insulators, insulated to 25kV.
The process will see replacement of 23 poles within existing infrastructure. Further labour will install four poles and build roughly 130 metres of new 3X-Raven-25 line.
The project will salvage the 4kV substation, located on Lot 7, Block 9. Additionally, where indicated, open wire secondary will be replaced with triplex or quadruplex wire. In lieu of replacement, salvage of open wire secondary will be conducted, leaving a minimum size of No. 2 ACSR (aluminum conductor, steel reinforced) line for the system neutral ground.
As to the purpose of the work being done, Laura McKnight, spokesperson from SaskPower stated, “The demand for power is increasing.”
The demand increase certainly makes sense, as the 2016 census shows Medstead as having achieved a 9.23 per cent population growth since 2011.
SaskPower is a part of the Canadian Electricity Association and an active part of the Sustainable Electricity Program.
“SaskPower continues to meet its environmental commitments,” McKnight said.
In additional response to questions as to the cause of the work being conducted, McKnight stated, “SaskPower continues to update infrastructure around the province to meet customer needs.”
This project represents a part of SaskPower’s investment of more than $110 million in the Lloydminster and North Battleford region as detailed in a SaskPower press release in late 2016.
With progress respecting electrical infrastructure, planned outages are an expected unpleasantness. Power disturbances, however well organized, can be a problematic aspect of power related upgrades. In some cases these can lead to significant ramifications such as water sanitation issues. With this in mind, effort is being made to keep the village running smoothly.
Village Administrator Coleen Kitching said, “SaskPower is hooking up generators to the water treatment plant and lift station. This is to keep everything running so we don’t need to have boil water advisories.”
The Medstead project represents $525,000 in infrastructure investment and is a positive step in keeping this thriving village united and more powerful than before.
SaskPower hard at work on Medstead project. Photo by Corrina Murdoch
