Widespread outages had occurred in recent years because of aged lines and equipment, increased load flows, and a system configuration that was not well matched with others on the region's power grid. As a result, WKP commissioned a number of joint studies with its system partners Teck-Cominco, Columbia Power and BC Hydro.

Extensive modifications were recommended to improve connections between the WKP and BC Hydro systems, and to eliminate most of the 63-kV backbone system (which consisted of six to eight parallel lines in the valley between generating plants on the Kootenay River and the main load point in Trail BC, 46 km away).

Hatch Acres (at that time Acres International) formed an implementation team to study the recommendations on WKP's behalf, to define the exact improvements and modifications required and to manage system changes to the WKP and Columbia Power facilities. BC Hydro and Teck-Cominco each managed their own facility improvements.

Part of the technical support during construction included a report prepared for the Ministry of Transportation on the load rating of the Brilliant Bridge substructure. The Brilliant Terminal Station had two transformers that needed to be transported to the site along Highway 3A, crossing the Kootenay River via the Brilliant Bridge. We reviewed the bridge's concrete substructure elements for the 200,000-kg load resulting from movement of each transformer and transport vehicle. A permit was granted requiring a Hatch Acres engineer to walk beside the transport vehicle as it crossed the bridge. This feat was 'awarded' to Rick Chmielewski who made two tense trips over the river at 2:00 AM.

Green engineering from the ground up
With most projects of this type, site restoration is often treated as a secondary follow-up to the core engineering activities. But in this case, the upgrading requirements and ground covered were so vast that such an approach would result in significant damage to the environment.

So we set out at the design stage to plan a long-term program that would not only restore damaged areas when work was completed, but that would affect engineering and construction activities in order to avoid or minimize environmental impact along the way.