Mainwaring Substation upgrade

Mainwaring Substation supplies reliable electricity to over 60,000 homes and businesses in East Vancouver. This important piece of our infrastructure needs some upgrades to replace aging equipment.

Upgrades include replacing two transformers in their existing location, constructing a new two-story building to house equipment that is currently outdoors, and removing existing outdoor equipment.

After the project is complete, we’ll landscape the site where required. Below you can see a rendering of the new building on the southwest corner of the substation, the location of the new transformers, a view inside the new building, and the area where equipment will be removed are shown below.

Site preparation started in late 2022 and the main construction work started in early 2023. The expected in-service date is December 2026.

Mainwaring Substation, located at the intersection of Inverness Street and 47th Avenue, is a distribution substation built in the 1950s. The substation takes electricity from transmission lines at a higher voltage and converts it to the voltage required to supply power to the 60,000 homes and businesses it serves.

The upgrade is important to ensure that we can continue to meet the needs of the substation's service area which is west to Cambie Street, east to Boundary Road, and north to 12th Avenue.

This upgrade will help meet the increased electricity demand due to load growth and electrification and provide increased reliability to the electrical system by replacing aging equipment that's nearing end-of-life. This upgrade will also prepare for future growth in the area by modifying the substation layout to better prepare for future upgrades.