Transmission build programme sets out 14,000 km target
The plan is the largest grid expansion in decades, and its funding model is still being finalised.
A long-awaited transmission development plan sets a target of roughly 14,000 km of new lines over the coming decade.
Scale of the task
The programme would roughly double the pace of construction achieved over the last ten years, and depends on servitude acquisition proceeding far faster than it historically has.
Industry submissions on the proposal closed earlier this month, and the volume of comment was unusually high. Trade associations, large energy users and two of the metros all filed responses, most of them supportive of the direction while critical of the timelines. Several submissions asked for a longer transition window, arguing that the compliance burden falls hardest on the smallest participants, who have the least capacity to absorb it.
Funding
The financing model remains under discussion, with independent transmission projects one of the options being tested.
The financial picture is more complicated than the headline figures suggest. Capital costs have fallen consistently over the last decade, but the cost of connecting to the grid has moved the other way, and in several provinces now represents a material share of total project cost. Developers have begun selecting sites for network availability first and resource quality second, a reversal of the logic that governed earlier rounds.
Analysts caution that implementation, rather than intent, will determine how quickly households and businesses feel the difference. The next reporting period should offer the first hard evidence either way.
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