Hydro One is giving a power station in Niagara-on-the-Lake an extra jolt of energy this fall — to help supply power to the growing population of Niagara.
Energy Minister Stephen Lecce and Hydro One CEO David Lebeter were at the Sir Adam Beck Station #2 in NOTL on Monday to announce a $135 million investment from Hydro One to expand and upgrade the facility.
The money, which comes from Hydro One’s latest capital budget, has been used to replace circuit breakers in the Beck #2 station.
“What we are talking about today,” said Lebeter, “is the completion of a project where we replaced all the circuit breakers in this station with new technology that’s more reliable and has a lower cost to operate.”
“And we’ve increased the capacity, which means we can get more electrons out of the generating stations.”
Lecce and Lebeter were joined by NOTL lord mayor Gary Zalepa and a number of other mayors from the Niagara Region including those from Pelham, Niagara Falls and Port Colbourne, whose communities will also benefit from the transformer’s additional capabilities.
“The people of Niagara Falls and the entire region, including right across southwestern Ontario, will now have access to (more) clean, reliable, affordable energy,” said Lecce, noting 40 years of energy will be produced thanks to the upgrades.
He cited the influx of people, homes and businesses to the region as the major reason for the needed increase in electrical generation.
Between 2016 and 2021, Statistics Canada reported a 6.8 percent rise in population in Niagara, which is one percent higher than the province-wide average over the same period.
Ontario’s Independent Electricity System Operator has forecasted that by 2050, electricity demand will increase by 60 per cent as a result of new investments, new homes and electrification, said Lecce.
“What we see here is growth in this region,” he said.
“Expansion in our farms and our greenhouses in manufacturing and affordable homes being built in the community. We know that growth comes with significant new energy demands.”
Zalepa knows the demands in NOTL all too well, he said, especially those in the community’s southwest corner.
“We’ve got great plans in Glendale,” he said, pointing to the busy commercial and residential area that has seen tremendous growth in recent years and which will be the site of further commercial and residential development.
“That area along the Queen Elizabeth Way interchange is going to require electricity, and not to mention all the different uses around our town as we go to more electric vehicles and greater reliance on electricity.”
The Sept. 16 announcement follows a billion-dollar government investment earlier this year to refurbish the Sir Adam Beck Hydroelectric Generating Stations, located on the banks for the Niagara River just a short distance from the Beck #2 station.
Those upgrades included the installation of new turbines.
