Sea to Sky Gondola Power Line Project
09 April, 2024
Construction has commenced on the overhead powerline that will provide clean energy to the gondola summit.
It is with immense gratitude to the Squamish Nation and in particular the dedication of the Rights and Title department that we announce the construction of a power line that will enable the summit of the Sea to Sky Gondola operation to switch from diesel to clean energy. Since the beginning of operations, we have worked with the Squamish Nation to learn more and more about the cultural significance of these lands, lands the Squamish people have stewarded since time immemorial.
It has truly been a collaborative effort between the Sea to Sky Gondola and the Squamish Nation along with BC Hydro, Ministry of Forests, Land, Natural Resource Operations and Rural Development (FLNRORD), The District of Squamish, and the Squamish Community Forest, and Efficiency BC.
The new powerline will decrease our carbon emissions by over 400 tonnes CO2e/year. It takes between 5000 and 7000 trees to sequester this amount of carbon in a year. The annual reduction in emissions is equal to taking 123 passenger vehicles off the road, providing electricity to 269 homes, or sending 17,461 bags of waste to be recycled instead of landfilled.
In addition to the decrease in carbon emissions, the new powerline will reduce the commercial traffic on the FSR delivering diesel to the summit, eliminate the noise from the generator at the summit and provide clean, reliable and BC-generated power.
The powerline will begin at the existing BC Hydro connection adjacent to the Valleycliffe neighbourhood and continue to the summit operations of the gondola. The project is designed to use the existing right of ways and cleared areas wherever possible. The effort that it took to find a route to minimize the number of trees cut was enormous. A great deal of planning has gone into ensuring that any trees removed are handled and used responsibly, with larger trees collected by the Squamish Community Forest. Smaller trees not collected by the Squamish Community Forest will be chipped with some covering left on the forest floor to return nutrients to the ecosystem and some being transported off-site.
With construction commencing in April, we are anticipating completion in late fall 2024 with our winter 2025 operations being powered by BC Hydro and the diesel generators at the summit will be turned off.
