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Salt Spring Island to North Pender Island Submarine Cable Project

A new underwater power cable between Salt Spring Island and North Pender Island will help meet growing electricity needs and provide more reliable energy to the southern Gulf Islands.

We're installing 11 kilometres of cable between Welbury Bay on Salt Spring Island and Port Washington on North Pender Island. It will be placed along the sandy parts of the ocean floor in Captain Passage and the Swanson Channel.

Parts of the current overhead power line on Salt Spring Island and North Pender Island will also be upgraded.

Salt Spring Island to North Pender Island cable project map

Salt Spring Island to North Pender Island cable project map

Select the project map [PDF, 1.1 MB] to view it at a larger size.
 

This new power cable will improve our flexibility and reliability in providing electricity to Salt Spring, Pender, Saturna, Mayne and Galiano Island. It will also give us more room for future growth in energy needs.

Dates Activities
Completed 2022 Cable route identification
Completed 2024 Engineering and environmental studies
April 2025 Pender Island upland civil construction
April 2025 Salt Spring Island upland civil construction
June 2025 Salt Spring Island intertidal civil construction
June 2025 Pender Island intertidal civil construction
Summer 2025 Submarine cable installation
September 2025 – January 2026 Pender Island overhead power line upgrades
September 2025 – January 2026 Salt Spring Island overhead power line upgrades
Early 2026 Cable in-service

 

We completed an environmental overview assessment to examine the possible environmental impacts of this project and are using the results to inform the project's design, which includes reducing and monitoring these impacts.

Reports and documents

Contact us

To learn more about the project, please contact us at:

Email: projects@bchydro.com
Phone: 604 623 4472
Toll free: 1 866 647 3334