Hawthorne Transmission Station in Canada’s Capital Completed

Hydro One, Ontario’s largest electricity transmission and distribution service provider, has completed a CAD $85 million investment project, which included replacing aging infrastructure and energizing five new transformers. The completion of the Hawthorne Transmission Station (TS) in Ottawa, Ontario was crucial for ensuring power reliability and improving power resiliency for the future.

The majority of Hydro One’s electricity transmission and distribution system in Ontario, Canada was built in the 1950s and 1960s. As a result, Hydro One is upgrading its aging infrastructure. The investments are required to replace, repair and upgrade equipment in almost every community to support economic and residential growth, keep the public safe and improve power reliability.

“These upgrades in our nation’s capital will energize life in the region and build a smarter, more sustainable, and reliable electricity system,” said Andrew Spencer, vice president,Transmission & Stations, Hydro One. “By collaborating with Hydro Ottawa, we were able to limit service disruptions to customers, especially while many Ottawa residents worked and studied from home.”

Minimizing Interruptions

Hawthorne TS is a 500/230/115/44 kV transmission station on the east side of central Ottawa. Both Hydro One and Hydro Ottawa supply customers from this station. The main challenge with the project at Hawthorne TS was maintaining power for customers while making the upgrades required. Hydro One collaborated with Hydro Ottawa, the local utility, to complete the upgrades at Hawthorne TS while ensuring the safe installation of new equipment and minimizing risk of interruptions to customers. This was especially important as most customers were working and studying from home due to the pandemic.

By replacing aging infrastructure and energizing five new transformers with higher-rated transformers (three 250MVA autotransformers and two 125MVA power transformers) at the station, these upgrades will help drive economic growth by increasing the amount of available power and improving reliability to the region.

The new higher-rated transformers feature the latest technology, such as real-time remote transformer health monitoring, which involves placing sensors on each transformer to measure and report data on temperature and other metrics in real time. This technology allows grid operators to monitor transformer health remotely and more efficiently, and it will also improve Hydro One’s ability to implement new technology in the future.

Going Forward

Hydro One is working to upgrade high-voltage power lines between Hawthorne and Merivale TS in the Ottawa area, further enhancing power resiliency and supporting growth in the region. Strengthening Hydro One’s high-voltage system will keep Ontario competitive by attracting future business and residential growth.

By preparing and modernizing the grid, we can ensure businesses, residents and communities can continue to thrive in Ottawa with access to safe, clean and reliable electricity.