Hydro One has planned two virtual community open house sessions to discuss plans for the new St. Clair Transmission Line Project this week.
Vice President of Stakeholder Relations Daniel Levitan said the line will be located between the Lambton transformer station in St. Clair Township and the Chatham switching station.
"This line is going to be needed to help accommodate a rapidly growing electricity demand in the region," said Levitan. "The line is expected to bring about 400 megawatts of power to the area and just to give scale, that's about enough electricity to power a city about the size of Waterloo."
According to the Independent Electricity System Operator, agricultural electricity demand in the Windsor-Essex and Chatham-Kent areas is expected to quadruple by 2035.
"To date, the system has been able to accommodate the growth in the area, but there's a lot of economic activity going on right now and it's important to make sure that we build the additional infrastructure that's going to be required to make sure that all of those customers have electricity ready when they need it."
Levitan said a tremendous amount of engineering, planning, and consultation is needed before the new double-circuit 230 kilovolt line can be built.
"As a part of that process we have an environmental assessment, so we're going to be evaluating and comparing five different alternatives. That whole process begins with consultation. So, we're going to look at those alternatives based on the natural environment, socio-economic environment, First Nations and traditional land use, and of course the technical and cost factors that would be associated with those different lines."
Levitan said the utility wants to talk with everyone in order to determine which of the five proposed routes is best.
"Mayors, councils, ratepayers associations. We spend a lot of time with the farming community. Residents, businesses, along with consultation with First Nations. So, this is an opportunity for really anyone in the area, whether they're a resident, or a business, or an advocate, to come down and weigh in on those alternatives."
Levitan said Hydro One hopes to confirm the route selection and outline a plan for its development in the spring of 2023.
"The IESO did give us an indication as to when we should have that infrastructure ready, so as it is right now, construction is planned to begin in the spring of 2027 with the line being in service by the end of 2028."
Live discussions will be held Wednesday, March 9 and Thursday, March 10 from 7 p.m. to 8 p.m.
To register, or read more on the project, visit www.HydroOne.com/StClair.
