Kincardine area receives million-dollar upgrade

Hydro One Kincardine Planned Power Outage will interrupt 8 am-2 pm on Oct 17-18 and 24-25, 2009, for grid upgrades to 44 kV distribution lines, poles, and conductors, boosting reliability in Huron and Ashfield.

Hydro One is investing more than $1 million to improve service reliability to customers in Kincardine, Huron and Ashfield Townships. Crews are upgrading mechanical equipment, installing new poles and replacing 11 kilometres of lines with new, robust wire as part of a significant upgrade.

Hydro One will be conducting a planned power outage in the Kincardine area from 8 am to 2 pm Saturday and Sunday October 17 and 18, and again on Saturday and Sunday October 24 and 25, 2009, while broader projects like the Ontario/Michigan interconnection continue elsewhere.

"This project is part of an ongoing program to continually assess the condition of our power delivery system and make significant upgrades to improve overall reliability, such as the Hamilton investments announced by Hydro One and Alectra," said Ron Matthews, Customer Operations Manager, Hydro One Walkerton/Listowel. "The work is a reflection of Hydro One's commitment to investing in its system and providing a high level of service for our customers in the Kincardine and Huron area and across the province."

The first weekend's planned outage will affect about 5,000 Hydro One customers, and the second about 4,000 customers. All affected customers will be notified in advance by Hydro One. The affected areas include parts of Huron and Ashfield townships, and the lower part of Kincardine Township. The Town of Kincardine itself will not be affected.

"The outage is being conducted to make substantial upgrades to the company's major 44,000 volt lines, similar to projects like the Kenora transmission corridor, the backbone of the distribution system," Matthews said. "This will significantly reduce the risk of unplanned outages in the area."

The work includes installation of over 50 new poles as well as moving about 50 other poles along Highway 21 as part of a pole replacement program underway in the region, and replacing 11 kilometres of older conductor with new, stronger, more robust wire that is much less susceptible to weather damage and can carry heavier electrical loads.

About 140 Hydro One lines and support staff will be involved in this project to minimize the outage duration. Many are coming from operations centres from Owen Sound to Chatham Kent, reflecting Georgian Bay area investments as well. As much work as possible has been done in advance to minimize outage length.

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