Hydro One is shifting into the planning phase of its St. Clair Transmission Line project, but not everyone is happy.
The project, announced in 2022, is to upgrade existing lines and create new ones to connect the Lambton transformer station to the Chatham switching station.
Sonny Karunakaran, vice-president of strategic projects and partnerships for Hydro One, said the new line will address increasing energy needs in the region.
“The energy demand in southwestern Ontario is expected to quadruple by 2035,” he said during an update with media on the plan. “This will bring 450 additional megawatts into the region, enough to power a city the size of London, Ont. It will support the region’s clean energy needs now and into the future.”
Included in the project is the upgrade of transmission lines from southeast of Courtright to northeast of Chatham. Those lines run through North Kent, which has some water well owners concerned.
Karunakaran said Hydro One is working to ensure the aquifer in the region, disturbed by wind turbine construction and operation in the past, is not impacted.
“We’ve heard loud and clear the effects on water, source water production, ground water and wells in particular,” Karunakaran said. “Hydro One’s teams conduct a number of field studies. We take our stewardship responsibilities seriously.”
To that end, he said the foundations for the transmission line are designed to avoid interaction with the aquifers.
“Any foundation we install will remain a minimum distance of 30 feet above the aquifer itself,” Karunakaran said. “The idea is to ensure our methods and techniques have avoidance.”
Kevin Jakubec, a founder of the Water Wells First group that has lobbied on behalf of well owners whose water became fouled with sediment in the wake of turbine construction and operation in the area, said he doesn’t think it is possible for Hydro One to stay 30 feet away from the aquifer in one section of the construction.
“This would be unlikely due to the thinness of the overburden in the area,” he told The Chatham Voice.
The overburden is the loose soil above the aquifer.
“The claims Hydro One is making in their final environmental assessment for the St. Clair Transmission Line project that their construction techniques will have no groundwater impacts are unverifiable without the data from a baseline study. We are left only with taking their word, nothing more,” Jakubec said.
Karunakaran begs to differ.
“We are committed to deliver this project in an environmentally responsible manner. We will continue to deliver this project with a mindfulness of a protection of the land, the people and the region,” he said. “We fully understand the significance of the water sources in the region.”
The project also includes expansion of the Lambton and Wallaceburg transformer stations, as well as the Chatham switching station.
Karunakaran said construction will bring economic development and job creation to the region.
The expected completion date for the project is 2028, according to Hydro One officials.
To view the Hydro One report, click here.
