Hydro Quebec is working on upgrading the electrical system in the Eastern Townships in order to meet the growing demands for electricity in the continuously developing region.  

According to Caroline Des Rosiers, spokesperson for Hydro Quebec, the Hydro Quebec network in the region was built in 1940 and it is past its prime. The plan to upgrade and modernize the electrical system began in 2016 with work on the Adamsville substation in Bromont and supply line, which is in service, and it will continue for several years.

Hydro-Quebec is currently working on developing the Bonsecours substation and supply line and the Cleveland – Waterloo supply line to make them more powerful by installing higher voltage lines. Hydro Quebec is working with Townshippers’ to address their questions and concerns about how these projects will impact them and the region’s natural environments. With the region’s electrical system running at full capacity, Des Rosiers said that the upgrade is necessary to serve the communities of the Eastern Townships. 

“The demand for electricity in the Eastern Townships has skyrocketed. With the economic development, the remote working that is a lot more present than before, and with the electrification of a lot of industries, the demand for electricity in the Eastern Townships, and other regions in Quebec but specifically in that region, is increasing,” explained Des Rosiers. “This is why, at this moment, that we feel the need to modernize and upgrade the transmission network in the entire region. (…) We are looking at the region as a whole and over the next 10 or 15 years we will be updating the entire transmission system in the region.”

Highlighting the projects that Hydro-Quebec is currently working on, Des Rosiers said that the Bonsecours substation and supply line project is “going very well.”

“What’s happening with that project at the moment is that we are currently doing environmental assessments, environmental inventories, and getting the permits to start construction for this project in 2025 for the line to be in service by 2026,” she explained. “This project is more in the Orford region and that’s a project that is going very well. We’ve discussed it with the communities and we are still in contact with everyone to make sure that everything is going smoothly there. On the other hand, we do have the Cleveland-Waterloo line that is a project that many people are interested in.”

The Cleveland-Waterloo project is expected to be 11 kilometres long with the transmission lines travelling through three communities - Granby, Bromont, and Shefford. 

“This project is instrumental in the modernization of the transmission network in the Eastern Townships to respond to the increased demand. We’re working on it to be in service by 2027. There’s some interesting stuff going on with that project right now. We’re working with the community to take into account their concerns because we do know that landscape preservation is very important in all the regions, but especially in the beautiful region of the Eastern Townships,” she mentioned. “We are working with citizens that will be close to the line to see what are the best options and measures that we could put in place for the impacts to be as minimal as possible.”

There are two types of construction that Hydro Quebec uses for its projects, according to Des Rosiers. 

“Sometimes we’re building a new line where there was no line before. So what we do is that we build a new line, then we connect the people whom to be connected to it, and then we deconstruct  the old line,” she explained. “In the case of the Cleveland-Waterloo line, we are rebuilding the line in the same right-of-way (running the new line along the existing line). We are rebuilding it in the same right-of-way because it’s the line that is going to have the least impact on the population and the environment.”

Addressing how these two projects may impact citizens, such as expected power outages, Des Rosiers said that Hydro-Quebec always ensures “that the transmission network is available” during the construction of new transmission lines.

“We do have a window of time where we can deconstruct and build the line while ensuring the power with our network redundancy. Our network is built so that if power can’t get somewhere by one line there will always be another way that it can get there because of the way that the network is done,” she explained. “That’s what we are going to use to rebuild this line. So impact on the population during construction would be minimal because there won’t be any interruption of the electrical service.” 

In terms of the environmental impacts, Des Rosiers noted that citizens should be aware that new hydro towers will be installed throughout the region that will be bigger and taller, which may lead to some changes in the landscape and the cutting of some trees and vegetation. 

“In the Eastern Townships, the transmission network is built on wooden towers. What we are looking at now is that it will be built on steel towers. These steel towers will be larger and taller, that’s what people will come to see in the next few years with the new lines that are being built,” she said. “But we do need to understand that these steel towers are essential to this new network that is essential for supporting the increased demand in the region. (…) When choosing a trajectory, we take a lot of elements into consideration. We have a lot of criteria that we take into account. We look at the most sensitive elements, we look at populated areas, recreational and tourist areas - which we do know there are a lot in the Eastern Townships - agricultural lands, sugar shacks, bodies of water, wetlands, protected areas.”

Des Rosiers emphasized that Hydro Quebec’s sole intention is to work with the region’s population and municipalities to “respond to the growth and demand for electricity.”

“We are are doing this to work with the Eastern Townships population to support it in the future. (…) A lot of stuff is going on and it’s exciting to see the region develop like that. We, Hydro Quebec, will be there to support that development,” she noted. 

More information can be found at the following links:

Upgrade of the transmission network: https://www.hydroquebec.com/projects/system-upgrade-estrie/
Bonsecours Substation and its supply line: https://hydroquebec.com/projects/bonsecours-substation/
Conversion of the Cleveland-Waterloo line: https://www.hydroquebec.com/projects/cleveland-waterloo-line/

Listen to the full interview below: