Media centre details

Contract awarded for FortisBC’s Kootenay Operations Centre

Jul 7, 2016

Construction of the new facility is now underway in Castlegar

KELOWNA, BC – July 7, 2016: FortisBC has awarded the 16-month, $12 million construction contract for their new Kootenay Operations Centre to Vic Van Isle Construction, a Revelstoke-based general contractor, following a competitive tendering process that considered 15 respondents.

Vic Van Isle Construction already has work underway at the 10-acre location in the Oosteshina area of Castlegar to ready the site for construction.

This is a notable project for FortisBC and for the community of Castlegar, with an overall project cost of close to $23 million dollars which includes items like the land purchase and construction, migration costs and equipment purchases. FortisBC has invested over one billion dollars in electric assets since acquiring the electric business in 2004 and this latest investment is the first new building for electric operations since 2002 when the Benvoulin Operations Centre was built.

Once complete, the Kootenay Operations Centre will be the central location for key electricity operations in the region. The facility will be approximately 30,000 square feet and will contain office and crew space, material storage and a dedicated Emergency Operations Centre. Approximately 100 transmission and distribution services employees will operate from the new facility. It is expected to open October 2017.

The Kootenay Operations Centre is one of the ways FortisBC is meeting the challenge of addressing aging infrastructure while carefully balancing the cost of improvements on the impact this can have on rates. After exploring many alternatives for addressing aging facilities in South Slocan, FortisBC found that constructing a new facility and centralizing their Kootenay operations to be more cost-effective over the long-term. It also offers a number of additional service benefits such as improved communications and project coordination within departments, reduced travel time and improved safety. Castlegar was chosen because of its central location to FortisBC’s electric operations in the region.

After extensive consultation with community stakeholders and a regulatory process with the BC Utilities Commission, FortisBC received permission to build the new facility in March 2016.

 

Media contact

Nicole Bogdanovic
Corporate Communications Advisor, FortisBC
250-470-2208
[email protected]
fortisbc.com
@fortisbc

​Vic Van Isle (VVI) Construction is a general contracting company founded in 1983 by a select group of individuals with a high level of construction experience. Based in Revelstoke, B.C., VVI Construction operates across Canada. Their services include general contracting, pre-construction planning, construction management, project management and design-build.

FortisBC is a regulated utility focused on providing safe and reliable energy, including natural gas, electricity and propane. FortisBC employs more than 2,200 British Columbians and serves approximately 1.1 million customers in 135 B.C. communities. FortisBC owns and operates two liquefied natural gas storage facilities and four regulated hydroelectric generating plants, approximately 7,200 kilometres of transmission and distribution power lines, and approximately 47,500 kilometres of natural gas transmission and distribution pipelines. FortisBC Inc. and FortisBC Energy Inc. do business as FortisBC. FortisBC is indirectly, wholly owned by Fortis Inc., a leader in the North American electric and gas utility business. Fortis Inc. shares are listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange and trade under the symbol FTS. Additional information can be accessed at www.fortisinc.com or www.sedar.com .