Ontario hydro project halted

In an affidavit filed with the Ontario Energy Board, Hydro One says Hydro-Québec "is not interested in proceeding with the project at this time."

The affidavit is a formal admission that the transmission line has stalled.

Ontario has been anxious to increase the flow of power from Quebec to backstop Ontario's electricity system, which can't generate enough power internally when demand is high. Quebec's main export lines run north and south to carry James Bay power to New England.

The proposed Ontario-Quebec link would carry 1,250 megawatts of power — enough to supply about 5 per cent of Ontario's needs on a day when demand is very high. By comparison, the Pickering B nuclear station generates just over 2,000 megawatts of power.

In 2000 when the line was first proposed, Hydro One estimated its share of the project's costs to be $96.5 million, and Hydro-Québec's to be $208 million.

The Hydro One affidavit says the new connection is "fundamental" to Ontario.

Delays have occurred on both sides. In Ontario, there was a wrangle over the type of towers that would be used to carry the new transmission lines.

On the other side of the border, Quebec's electricity regulator didn't allow Hydro-Québec permission to charge the rates it wanted to carry the power to the Ontario border. The rate decision, combined with the delays, has cooled Hydro-Québec's interest in the project, according to Hydro One.

As a result, Hydro One wants the Ontario Energy Board to extend the deadline it set for construction of the line. The board had granted Hydro One permission to proceed providing construction started by Dec. 31, 2002. The board then extended the deadline to the end of 2003. Hydro One now wants the deadline extended another five years.

In an interim decision, the energy board has removed the deadline while it considers the application.