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Don't blame the ravens

Jennifer Geens
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (Jun 16/06) - Downtown residents and business owners can expect power outages this summer, but don't blame the ravens.

Northland Utilities is continuing its upgrade of Yellowknife's electrical service.

The power company hopes switching from a 5 kilovolt to a 25 kilovolt system will help stabilize the city's fickle on-again, off-again relationship with electricity.

"It will be able to handle the long-term growth for the city, improve reliability - at least on the distribution side - and improve voltage for customers," said manager Jerome Babyn.

This summer's work will affect the area between 48th and 53rd Street, from 49th to 50th Avenue, from June 19 to Aug. 15. Though most of the work will be done on the hydro poles in the alleys, the work will require digging along 49th Avenue, which may reduce traffic to one lane.

Underground work has already begun near the Legislative Assembly building.

Most affected customers will experience two scheduled outages, which may range from a few minutes to a few hours. The specific dates for these have not been identified yet, but Babyn said they would warn customers ahead of time.

Babyn said Yellowknife's existing 5 km system is growing obsolete, and finding replacement parts is becoming increasingly difficult. Some of the equipment being replaced dates from the 1940s.

The current system requires many substations to go the distance necessary to carry the electricity to customers. The new 25 kilovolt system will reduce the number of substations to three from seven.

"There will be less opportunity to have problems on the system," said Babyn.

The conversion will be completed in 2012 and is expected to cost $17.6 million.