Alectra Utilities and Hydro One collaborate
by CM Staff
Hydro One crews will replace up to 30 insulators at the station that are more than 70 years old
Hydro One’s Mobile Transformer Unit at Newton Transformer Station will keep customers energized during repairs. (CNW Group/Alectra Utilities Corporation)
HAMILTON, Ont. — Alectra Utilities is supporting the completion of a multi-million-dollar investment by Hydro One that will create a more stable and reliable supply of power in the west-end of Hamilton.
The weekend of May 7-9 will see Alectra crews working in concert with Hydro One teams to repair aging infrastructure at its Newton Transformer Station. Hydro One crews will replace up to 30 insulators at the station that are more than 70 years old. Initially scheduled for December, this project was delayed to the spring to minimize disruption to homes and businesses during the repairs.
Due to safety concerns for crews completing the work, large sections of the station must be removed from service. This would require multiple and prolonged outages (8 – 12 hours) impacting roughly 8,500 customers to complete several insulator replacements at risk of failure. In order to alleviate service interruptions while crews conduct the necessary work, Hydro One and Alectra are bringing in a Mobile Transformer Unit to keep customers energized.
“Customers may experience a momentary interruption the weekend of May 7-9 as crews divert feeders for the required work to proceed,” said Chris Hudson, Senior Vice President, Network Operations at Alectra Utilities in a statement. “While there is no ideal timing for major improvements or the outages necessary to complete them– our engineering and operations team has conducted extensive planning to ensure any disruptions are moments instead of hours.”
Alectra’s distribution system and the Hydro One Transformer Station require upgrading so they can serve the increasing demand of the Hamilton community, especially while Hamiltonians are working and studying from home. This project will provide improved reliability and potentially avoid future unplanned loss of supply events that would likely have a much longer repair time.
