Peachland POST YOUR COMMUNITY NEWSPAPER
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The week of March 6, 2026
LOCAL GOVERNMENT Our Mayor on shaping the future of Peachland P.3
TEAM EFFORT Behind the scenes organization before sports seasons begin P.4
ABOUT TOWN Find out what’s going on and where it’s happening P.11
Visit our website at peachlandpost.org • Vol. 2 Issue 9
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TEN-YEAR PLAN REVEALED
Supply will be more secure but the power line to Peachland won’t be twinned By Jeff McDonald Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
POWER PLAY
A
s most Peachlanders know, BC Hydro has for many years been promising to twin the power line that supplies electricity to the west side of Okanagan Lake. Peachland gets electricity from a BC Hydro substation in West Kelowna, which in turn is fed by a single transmission line from Nicola Substation near Merritt. That line passes over rugged, remote terrain that’s more prone than ever to wildfires, which are more frequent and intense in B.C. due to climate change. A redundant power supply is a backup system that ensures a continuous flow of electricity if one fails. Because the existing transmission line from Merritt
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BC Hydro is taking steps to provide a reliable second source of power should the existing line be interrupted.
to West Kelowna has no redundancy, Peachland is vulnerable. The good news: BC Hydro is finally taking steps to eliminate the west side communities’ vulnerability. As part of its ten-year capital plan, the West Kelowna Transmission Project (WKTP) will connect its grid in West Kelowna with FortisBC’s Recreation Substation in Kelowna to create
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a redundant power supply for the nearly 26,000 BC Hydro customers in Westbank First Nation, West Kelowna, Peachland, and surrounding communities. The less-good news: the new transmission line won’t be finished until 2032 and it won’t be extended to the stretch from West Kelowna to Peachland.
WKTP manager Rachelle Trent said connecting the Westbank substation to Kelowna is about reliability. “It will provide a second transmission line to the Westbank Substation which provides power to Peachland, so it provides a reliable second SEE POWER PLAY PAGE 7
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