Storm doesn’t match Labrador-island Link
Weather bomb brings winds, but not to topple towers
The “weather bomb” bringing wind gusts of 180 km/h and even 200 km/h on the island of Newfoundland Thursday did not reach the limits for the new Labrador-island Link.
The power line — part of the Muskrat Falls hydroelectric project — runs 1,100 kilometres, from the Muskrat Falls converter station to the Labrador coast and then, on the Newfoundland side of the Strait of Belle Isle, down the Northern Peninsula, before heading across the island to Soldiers Pond on the Avalon Peninsula.
The power line is not yet in operation, but the final tower was put up on the Northern Peninsula in October and all of the conductor line was strung as of late November.
Thursday’s storm hit hard on the island’s southwest coast, west coast and the Northern Peninsula, but the power line is designed for worse conditions. It varies along its length, but along the unforgiving Long Range Mountains of the Northern Peninsula it would be expected to handle sustained winds — not gusts — of more than 180 km/h and 115 mm of ice build-up.
“Following (Thursday’) storm, as with all other major storm events, Power Supply has initiated a full inspection of the line, which is our standard practice, that will continue over the coming days,” Nalcor Energy stated in response to questions on Friday. “To date, there are no reports of damage.”
Power Supply is the management division under Nalcor Energy responsible for the link and other non-regulated assets, separate from Newfoundland and Labrador Hydro.
The Labrador-island Link power line is scheduled to be energized in mid-2018, if Nalcor Energy gets the commissioning work completed as planned.
The link remains separate from Hydro’s regulated power assets, where maintenance and sustainability are under the watch of the PUB.
There were outages on the Northern Peninsula during the storm, but they were temporary and mainly as a result of the wind causing the main transmission line and feeder lines to trip. No older towers were brought down.
Hydro’s work crews had the majority of its direct power customers back online Friday morning.