Hydro Ottawa’s chief executive warns that “the network is still relatively unstable” and there is a risk of future disruptions during strong wind storms, a month after a powerful storm devastated Ottawa’s hydro infrastructure.
Approximately 180,000 homes and businesses in Ottawa lost electricity, some more than 10 days after a gust of wind up to 180 km / h hit the capital on May 21.
Hydro Ottawa President and CEO Bryce Conrad told the city council on Wednesday morning that crews are actively checking for trees and branches hanging over the hydro infrastructure, but the network is still at risk of more outages each time a strong wind blows. the capital.
“Every time there is a good gust of wind or a good wind, there will be more trees and branches, some of them are already weakened, they will just fall,” Conrad said. “It will be several weeks of strong winds before we take this out of our system.
More than 15,000 customers in western Ottawa lost power last Saturday after Hydro Ottawa lost power from the provincial grid.
Conrad says Hydro Ottawa has the resources available to respond to any disruptions caused by downed trees and shrubs as work continues to stabilize the network.
Hydro Ottawa estimates that storm damage and clean-up cost approximately $ 30 million.
$ 10 billion for the disposal of hydro poles, says Hydro Ottawa
There were calls for the disposal of hydro infrastructure after the May 21st storm as a way to prevent future water power outages.
However, Hydro Ottawa warns that it will cost $ 10 billion to bury the entire water infrastructure and will take approximately 90 years.
“When a lot of infrastructure work is done, we bury the lines at the same time. Burying lines is extremely expensive. In the new neighborhoods, of course, it’s built into the cost of housing and development, “said Jim Durrell, chairman of the board of Hydro Ottawa.
“It will take approximately 90 years to go and bury the lines here in Ottawa and around the city and will cost about $ 10 billion and will never be approved by the Ontario Energy Council under any circumstances.
“The price would make the price of hydropower for all the people who call you all the time and are upset, excessive and beyond, it just won’t make the water system reasonable. If this storm has shown us anything, it’s how important our electrical system is at a reasonable cost to the public. “
The cost of burying the water mains under Elgin Street during construction was $ 3.1 million.
Conrad says Hydro Ottawa is “happy” to discuss burying hydro pipelines as part of construction.
“I’m not against burying the lines, I just can’t afford to bury the lines,” Conrad said, noting that the council has a policy of paying for burying the lines.
Conrad says Hydro Ottawa is looking to see what can be done in key areas to prevent major disruptions.
“Are you considering burying some key north-south infrastructure to get this surplus supply? Maybe? ”Conrad said.
“A case needs to be made, and that’s something we’re going to look at.”
More than 400 hydro ladders were damaged by the storm and repaired.
“Wooden poles are not the problem. A storm of this magnitude will always be a problem,” Durrell said.
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