East–West Tie Transmission Project

Province: Ontario

City/Region: Municipality of Shuniah (near Thunder Bay) to Wawa

Image Credit: Valard

NR

Project Rank

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Project End: 2022

Project Type: Transmission

Industry Sector: Energy

Project Amount: $777.1 million

Date of Completion: 2022

Funding Source: Public

Federal Funding: $$170 thousand through Indigenous Services Canada to hire a Project Manager to work with participating First Nations groups.

Provincial Funding: $777 million

Transmission Line Length (KM): 450

Previous Rankings

202268
202159
202062
201974
201877
201775
201678
201579

About The Project

The East-West Tie Transmission Project is planned to consist of a new, approximately 447-kilometre, double-circuit, 230-kV transmission line, primarily paralleling an existing transmission line corridor. The new East-West Tie will which connects the Wawa Transformer Station to the Lakehead Transformer Station in the Municipality of Shuniah, near Thunder Bay, with a connection approximately mid-way at the Marathon Transformer Station. The need for the project was established by the Independent Electricity System Operator to; (i) increase capacity to meet expected electricity demand growth in northwestern Ontario, (ii) provide two-way power flow across the tie, allowing more efficient use of generation resources, and (iii) create improved electricity system reliability, flexibility and operation. Additionally, in March 2016, Ontario declared that the construction of the East-West Tie Transmission line is needed as a priority project. Construction on the project began in October 2019. it is scheduled for completion by the end of the first quarter of 2022. As of August 18, 2021, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry revoked the Implantation Order, affecting construction activities and construction work resume across all work fronts. On July 21, 2021, due to extreme fire hazard and forest fires in the area, the Ministry issued Implementation Orders prohibiting construction activities associated with the project and NextBridge temporarily suspended construction from Thunder Bay to Pic Mobert First Nation. The Order was partially revoked on August 10 and fully revoked on August 18.

Financing Detail: The East-West Tie Project is the first competitive transmission project in Ontario. NextBridge was selected in the process and designated to complete the necessary development work. Although NextBridge is a private company, the funding will be public, ratepayer dollars—subject to and approved by the Ontario Energy Board.

Project Owner: NextBridge Infrastructure, a partnership with NextEra Energy Canada, Enbridge Inc., and Borealis Infrastructure

Project/Construction Manager: Quanta Services Inc.

Engineer: Burns & McDonnell

Contractor: Valard

Environmental Services: Dillon Consulting (environmental assessment)

Other Key Players: Ontario Energy Board and the IESO; Golder-a member of WSP (environmental and social impact assessment, environmental inspection services for geotech. drilling program); Hatch (constructability reviews and access planning); Englobe

Other Suppliers: Canam Group

Legal: Gowling WLG (counsel to NextBridge); Osler; Torys (acting for the owner)

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