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Medicine Hat narrows down southwest substation location to a pair of options

Sep 26, 2024 | 5:40 PM

The City of Medicine Hat revealed Thursday it has narrowed down options for the location of a new substation to a pair of potential sites it hopes to present to an Alberta regulatory body for approval.

A new substation is required to meet increased electrical demand from the southwest area of the city.

The city said the two locations were chosen by assessing a number of criteria, including community feedback, environmental impacts, visual impacts, agricultural impacts, engineering considerations and costs.

READ: Information session for substation in Medicine Hat’s southwest

The preferred site is just within the city boundary north of Hidden Tree RV Storage and an alternative site is located just north of Sunshine Greenhouses Ltd within Cypress County.

Map/CHAT News

The city presented several potential locations suitable for a substation in February.

From then until September, city staff spent time getting feedback from residents and discussing the impacts the facility could have with landowners and interested parties.

Now, with preferred and alternative sites in-hand, the city has started preparing a facility application to submit to the Alberta Utilities Commission for approval.

Graphic/City of Medicine Hat

Once the application is filed, the city said it will notify community members and release various reports on the project for public review.

It will be up to the utilities commission to outline next steps and that could include a public hearing for feedback on the two finalized sites.

The city hopes substation construction will start and finish in 2026 and be in-service the same year.