Hydro One Investing Approximately $33 Million to Expand the Minden Transmission Station

July 19, 2019

Hydro One has announced plans to invest approximately $33 million to expand the Minden Transmission Station to improve reliability and support future economic growth in the region.

Over the next two years, Hydro One plans to expand the Minden Transmission Station and install two new transformers to improve reliability and increase the available power supply to the region to accommodate commercial and residential growth. Through its grid modernization program, Hydro One will also be installing new devices that will enable remote monitoring of the system to determine when and where outages have happened and remotely take action to restore power from the Ontario Grid Control Center, Hydro One’s central hub that oversees daily operations.

Darlene Bradley, Acting Chief Operating Officer, Hydro One said, “This expansion is part of Hydro One’s plan to make prudent upgrades and investments to increase the supply of power and build a stronger electricity system for the Minden and Haliburton region.”

Station expansion and project upgrades are expected to include the:

• installation of two new transformers to improve reliability and accommodate growth;
• construction of two new buildings to house critical electrical communication equipment and protect from weather elements; and,
• installation of new grid modernization equipment in the region, which is expected to reduce outage durations and decrease the amount of customers impacted during an outage.

On July 26, 2018, during a significant storm, a fire at Minden Transmission Station resulted in a power outage for many Hydro One customers in the area. The fire caused significant damage to the station’s transformer, which impacted the alternate supply of power to the region. It also interrupted work that had begun to upgrade the site. Throughout the remaining months of 2018, staff worked to safely remove the damaged equipment and install a temporary transformer in the case of an outage. Hydro One crews will now be able to complete the planned expansion to the Minden Transmission Station.

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