Hydro Ottawa seeks to double plant’s output

TORONTO Hydro Ottawa wants to expand its historic hydroelectric generating facility at Chaudière Falls.

The utility submitted an application Wednesday to the Ontario Power Authority that, if approved, would see its production capacity grow from 38 megawatts today to as high as 60 MW upon completion.

A final design has not been approved for the multimillion-project, which could take three years to build once it is given the green light, according to Hydro Ottawa spokesman Owen Mahaffy.

Hydro Ottawa purchased three generating stations from Domtar last year and plans to redevelop the site by building a station and mothballing two aging ones, he said.

“The best solution is to put in a new generating station that is more efficient and makes better use of the water,” Mahaffy said.

The project will benefit Ottawa because the new renewable power produced at the facility will feed into the local grid and is the most “environmentally benign” type of energy to produce and generates no greenhouse gases, he said, adding the project won’t involve changing the Ottawa River’s water dynamic at all.

Hydro Ottawa also gives the City of Ottawa a share of the utility’s annual net income.

This year, the dividend was worth $18.6 million, based on 2012 results.

Energy Minister Bob Chiarelli mentioned Hydro Ottawa’s application during a conference call with reporters about the province’s longterm energy plan, which was released Monday.

The plan highlighted improvements Hydro One is making to Hawthorne Transformer Station in the city’s east end.

The current upgrade work requires replacing 12 circuit breakers with new ones to help improve reliability of the 115-kV (kilovolt) system supplying the Ottawa area.

The Ottawa Regional Energy Plan, which is in progress, will identify future work to support the reliability of the area and may identify additional upgrade work at Hawthorne facility, the government’s plan says.

As for consumers, Chiarelli said the government is trying to keep energy bills affordable by keeping average increases over the next two decades to 2.8 per cent per year (the 2010 long-term energy plan forecasted 3.5 per cent increases annually).

“Certainly that will help not only Eastern Ontario, but it will help across the province,” he said.

But consumers will still see their hydro bills rise by 42 per cent over the next five years, 50 per cent over the next 10 years, and 68 per cent over the next two decades. (Those numbers assume that the Ontario Clean Energy Benefit, a 10 per cent rebate for consumers, is eliminated as scheduled in 2016).

In real dollars, that means a typical customer who pays a monthly bill of $125 this year will pay $167 per month in 2016, and $210 per month by 2032, according to the forecast supplied by the government.