Past Projects

Our 20-inch gas line on the original Pattullo Bridge ensured more than 35,000 homes and businesses in New Westminster, Burnaby and Coquitlam received the natural gas they count on every day. When the British Columbia Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure announced it was preparing to replace the Pattullo Bridge, we started to plan how we would continue to maintain gas service for our customers once the existing gas line on the bridge was decommissioned.

Since the Ministry’s design standards wouldn’t permit a gas line on the new bridge, we built six kilometres of new gas line through Burnaby. We selected the route based on technical investigations, City of Burnaby input and feedback received during engagement with numerous stakeholders and communities. Work started in November 2021 and was completed in Fall 2022.

As part of the project’s restoration, we built a new cycling and walking path along the route, in partnership with the City of Burnaby.

Work to decommission our old gas line and associated infrastructure on and around the old Pattullo Bridge was completed in Summer 2023.

Our FortisBC Gas Line Upgrades project helps supply more than 210,000 homes and businesses with natural gas. From 2018 to 2020 we upgraded 20 kilometres of gas line in Coquitlam, Burnaby and Vancouver, as well as related facilities. The new gas line became operational in December 2019. The last part of construction to be completed was the Coquitlam facility upgrade in June 2020.

Years before work began on our gas line upgrade, we started engaging with municipalities, businesses, residents and Indigenous communities. While upgrades were underway, we worked with communities every step of the way. To help keep everyone informed about the project, we had more than 14,000 interactions with the community.

In 2017, we upgraded a section of natural gas line between Surrey and Coquitlam. This 11-kilometre upgrade increases the capacity of the gas line, keeps up with growing demand and continues the safe and reliable delivery of natural gas to our customers. This backup line runs alongside the existing natural gas line, in the same utility corridor, in both Surrey and Coquitlam. Having a second gas line means that we’re prepared to meet our customers’ natural gas needs, even as communities grow. Site clean-up continued at a few locations throughout 2018 and is now complete.

The project was completed in 2015 by the Waneta Expansion Limited Partnership, a partnership between Fortis Inc., Columbia Power Corporation, and Columbia Basin Trust. Located in the Columbia-Kootenay region, immediately downstream of the Waneta Dam on the Pend d’Oreille River, the expansion at the Waneta Dam generates enough clean, renewable, cost-effective electricity to power about 60,000 homes per year – all from water that would otherwise be spilled. In addition to injecting more than $300 million into the local economy, this project created jobs for more than 1,400 people, including 194 apprenticeships from 13 different trades.

Our largest electricity project was completed in 2011. We increased the reliability of our South Okanagan electrical system by upgrading overhead lines from 161kV to 230kV, between South Vaseux Lake to Oliver and north to Penticton. We also built a new substation in Oliver and upgraded existing substations in Penticton, Vaseux Lake, Oliver and Kelowna. We are pleased to say this project helped support local economic spending, created construction-related jobs and increased the electric reliability for electricity customers. 

To help Whistler prepare for the 2010 Winter Olympics, we converted the community from an existing propane system to natural gas in 2009, in support of the city’s Sustainable Energy Plan. The addition of a natural gas pipeline was built together with the expansion of the Sea-to-Sky Highway (Highway 99). This route reduced environmental impacts and minimized the cost of construction through mountainous terrain. In just 84 days, a team of more than 100 FortisBC employees and contractors retrofitted about 14,000 propane appliances to operate safely on natural gas.

Completed in 2000, the nearly $400-million Southern Crossing Natural Gas Project allowed us to increase access to natural gas, and improve the security and reliability of natural gas supply in the province. This was no small project. It involved building more than 300 kilometres of natural gas pipeline from Yahk to Oliver and upgrades to compressor stations. At any one time, 2,000 British Columbians were working on this project.