{"id":890588,"date":"2026-09-10T14:40:30","date_gmt":"2026-09-10T14:40:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/890588\/"},"modified":"2026-09-10T14:40:30","modified_gmt":"2026-09-10T14:40:30","slug":"proposed-substation-in-vancouvers-west-end-faces-community-opposition-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/890588\/","title":{"rendered":"Proposed substation in Vancouver’s West End faces community opposition"},"content":{"rendered":"

An aging B.C. Hydro substation in Downtown Vancouver must be replaced, though some West End residents are against the proposed location of its successor.<\/p>\n

The Dal Grauer Substation has been powering Downtown Vancouver for more than seven decades. About 50,000 homes and businesses in the area are currently served by it.<\/p>\n

However, B.C. Hydro said this facility \u2014 and another nearby \u2014 are approaching the end of their operational lives, and the area needs a new one.<\/p>\n

“Everybody who lives downtown works downtown, needs electricity and needs clean electricity. So we need this,” said Energy Minister Adrian Dix.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The proposed site for a new substation is under Lord Roberts Annex elementary, beside Nelson Park. (CBC)<\/p>\n

Location concerns<\/p>\n

Community advocates in the West End agree a substation is needed, but worry about its proposed location.<\/p>\n

“B.C. Hydro has made a decision to build a massive industrial infrastructure project in the only local park for the interior of the West End \u2014 a park that services 20,000 people within a 10-minute walking distance,” said Carol Reardon, a member of an advocacy group called the Friends of Nelson Park.<\/p>\n

The proposed site is under Lord Roberts Annex elementary, beside Nelson Park.<\/p>\n

B.C. Hydro and the Vancouver School Board finalized the deal in 2018, saying the underground facility will preserve the valuable urban land above.<\/p>\n

“If the project goes forward, the school will be torn down, the playground will be gone,” said Reardon.<\/p>\n

“They are planning to cut down 85 trees … one of the best features of the park are these majestic mature canopy trees.”<\/p>\n

Under the terms of the deal made in 2018, the school district was to receive a minimum of $73 million from B.C. Hydro for construction of an elementary school that will include child care spaces and a playing field.<\/p>\n

As of this year, the Vancouver School Board filed a development application for the school’s replacement \u2014 a three-storey elementary school for over 500 students. It will have playgrounds, a basketball court and a sports field, among other things.<\/p>\n

A map B.C. Hydro posted on its site shows the new school is intended to be located adjacent to the new substation.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

Logistical constraints<\/p>\n

One expert says replacing an aging electricity infrastructure in the middle of a city is difficult because free space is hard to come by.<\/p>\n

“There are always logistical constraints,” said Werner Antweiler, a University of British Columbia economics professor.<\/p>\n

“It’s not easy moving it anywhere. It has to be in a specific place, a nodal place where that can be all brought together.”<\/p>\n

B.C. Hydro said it considered those constraints.<\/p>\n

“The choices we’ve made have had \u2014 compared to all of the other choices we could have made \u2014 the least possible disruption,” Dix said.<\/p>\n

The B.C. Utilities Commission is now considering whether the project is in the public interest, with a decision expected in the coming months.<\/p>\n

B.C. Hydro says it won’t begin construction until that approval is granted.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"An aging B.C. Hydro substation in Downtown Vancouver must be replaced, though some West End residents are against…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":890589,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194298],"tags":[285884,308706,49,48,308705,199548,59525,308704,55,223456],"class_list":["post-890588","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-vancouver","tag-adrian-dix","tag-b-c-hydro","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-carol-reardon","tag-downtown-vancouver","tag-elementary-school","tag-roberts-annex","tag-vancouver","tag-vancouver-school-board"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/890588","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=890588"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/890588\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/890589"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=890588"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=890588"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=890588"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}