NL Hydro wrapping up 'aggressive' maintenance for winter prep

Officials with Newfoundland and Labrador Hydro say the company has wrapped up its maintenance programs in preparation for this winter season.

Hydro's Chief Operating Officer Scott Crosbie said he wants to assure the public there is adequate energy available for the winter, adding that he doesn't expect a repeat of last year's outages.

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"We are confident in our ability to provide the electricity that you need this winter," said Crosbie.

Earlier this year, much of the province was left in the dark after widespread outages. Crosbie said a series of unusual events resulted in January's outages, and while Hydro doesn't anticipate any issues this year, they are prepared.

We are confident in our ability to provide the electricity that you need this winter.- Scott Crosbie

Crosbie said on Thursday that Nalcor was ready to meet the peak supply demands this winter, adding the corporation is in the final stages of work on a new combustion turbine, but some key pieces of work are still in the final stages.

"Not that we just have enough energy available to meet your needs, we have the extra in there that will ensure reliable supply. And that's why you should have confidence in us this winter we are committed to you."

Crosbie added there was extensive maintenance work done to a number of transmission systems and "critical assets" during the May-November months.

The Sunnyside substation, where equipment failure caused a transformer malfunction in January, now has a new transformer in place and maintenance work has been done, according to Crosbie.

Three-tier communication strategy

Dawn Dalley, a vice-president with Nalcor, said during the widespread outages early this year, the company learned that customers wanted better communication on energy updates.

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As a result, Dalley said NL Hydro has worked with Newfoundland Power on coming up with a new strategy for communicating updates to the public.

Dalley said the first level would be updates that Hydro is watching the system closely, but no action is needed. At the second level, Hydro would indicate energy levels were getting to a point they weren't comfortable with, and asking customers to conserve power where available.

The third tier would be when Hydro experiences a shortfall, resulting in rotating outages. Dalley said Hydro doesn't expect this to happen this winter, but they would provide advanced notice to customers to help them prepare adequately for outages.

New turbine still on track

A new $120-million combustion turbine for the Holyrood plant was fast-tracked by Hydro earlier this year, with an estimated completion date for some time in December.

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Crosbie said the bulk of work on the turbine is complete, but there has been some back and forth on the schedule. However, he said Hydro still expects the project to wrap up in December.

He added that regardless of a specific completion date, the project hasn't gone astray. Crosbie said the installation is normally a 24-month install, but Hydro has compressed it to eight months.