Hydro One and Canadian Niagara Power to Invest $30 M in Port Colborne, Ontario Infrastructure

July 30, 2019

The investment will help to refurbish the Port Colborne Transmission Station, improving reliability for the city. In the interim, Hydro One will reduce the duration of power interruptions by energizing a second source of power. In the case that an outage impacts Hydro One equipment, the city will now have an alternate source of safe and reliable power.

Upgrades and enhancements to infrastructure will include:

• Advancing the refurbishment of the Port Colborne Transmission Station, with a planned 2022 completion date.
• Once complete, the station refurbishment and upgrades will provide a second source of power to the Port Colborne area to improve long-term reliability.
• Moving forward with interim plans to energize a second source of power to be remotely switched in service by Hydro One’s Ontario Grid Control Center, a central hub that oversees daily operations.

“A loss of power grinds life to a halt, impacting businesses, families and productivity, which is why Hydro One is taking immediate steps to build a stronger, safer electricity source for the Port Colborne area,” said Imran Merali, Vice President, Customer Service, Hydro One. “Through this collaboration with the community and Canadian Niagara Power, Hydro One will be able to replace aging infrastructure, improve reliability and upgrade the system to provide short and long-term benefits to our customers.”

“Canadian Niagara Power has and will continue to invest substantially into its Port Colborne service territory infrastructure,” says Don Gilbert, Regional Manager of CNPI.  “Areas of focus include: system refurbishment, distribution automation and enhancements to protection and control.  Canadian Niagara Power also remains committed to vegetation management, system inspection and maintenance.  We would like to recognize the efforts made by Hydro One to enhance reliability from the source provider.”

“We would like to thank Hydro One for hearing not only the concerns of council but of our residents and businesses, making the commitment to adjust their delivery dates for renovations to the Davis Street Sub-Station and to re-activate the second line, C1P, coming into Port Colborne to ensure reliable service to our ratepayers,” commented Mayor Bill Steele. “Partnerships are important to this administration and the recent collaborations between Hydro One, Canadian Niagara Power and the City of Port Colborne are proving to be in the best interests of our residents and businesses.”

Source