Energizing life for communities

In Ontario, the Independent Electricity System Operator (IESO) is responsible for ensuring that future energy needs are being met. According to the IESO, electricity demand in the southwest region is expected to quadruple by 2035.

To support this growth, the IESO has identified through their long-term planning the need for the first transmission line to be in-service by 2030. With such significant demand expected, the Government of Ontario has advised Hydro One to concurrently conduct early development work on the second transmission line while the IESO further assesses the future energy needs of the region. This will allow for more efficient planning, as well as more meaningful and transparent consultation with Indigenous communities, residents, municipalities, and stakeholders.

Through our engagement with the public and stakeholders, we identified multiple challenges within the eastern portion of Route 1, prior to where it merges with Route 2. Specifically, the route would have passed through an active oil resource area east of Kintyre, a new industrial agricultural facility and very near an airport.

We explored options for adjusting Route 1 to avoid these constraints, however due to the size of the resource area and other constraints in the area, a large deviation from paralleling the existing line would have been required. Since parallelling the existing line was the main rationale for this route alternative, and given the multiple technical challenges that were identified, this route alternative is no longer technically feasible and has been removed from consideration.

Over the course of the Class EA, we will focus on studying and learning more about each route alternatives by collecting data from a variety of sources, such as existing reports and plans, conducting environmental field surveys and technical assessments, as well as engagement opportunities to gather input and feedback. Through this process, we will evaluate and compare each of the route alternatives to identify the preferred route.

We anticipate the preferred route will be identified by early to mid-2025 and will continue to keep community members updated and seek feedback. Please contact Hydro One Community Relations at community.relations@hydroone.com or 1-877-345-6799 to join our project contact list and stay involved.

Your feedback is an important part of the planning process. It will help us evaluate and compare each route in the evaluation process, as well as identify potential ways to avoid, mitigate or restore potential project impacts.

Please provide your feedback at any time by contacting Hydro One Community Relations at community.relations@hydroone.com or 1-877-345-6799

It is important to note that the preferred route has not been selected and individual property impacts have not yet been determined. We are communicating early with potentially impacted landowners along each of the route alternatives to make them aware and ensure their feedback is included in our assessment.

Once a preferred route is selected, the Hydro One Real Estate team will work with directly affected property owners.

Please contact us at community.relations@hydroone.com or 1-877-345-6799 so we can setup a time to meet with you one-on-one.

We know the important role farmers have in supporting Ontario’s economy and we are committed to minimizing potential effects to agricultural operations during and after construction. We’ve had the opportunity to learn about farming operations from other projects we’ve been working on to- date, including the opportunity to see first-hand the size of modern-day farming equipment.

An important part of the EA process involves identifying potential environmental effects of the project, including effects to the socio-economic environment such as agricultural operations, and identifying high-level mitigation measures that could be applied to avoid or minimize these effects.