Staff
It looks like the necessary maintenance at the Eighth Street transformer station may not take as long as previously thought.
The Fort Frances Power Corp. reported yesterday its customers now will be without power for only about six hours this Sunday (from 9 a.m.-3 p.m.) so Hydro One can perform the work.
The disruption initially was supposed to last for only 10 minutes (9 a.m.-9:10 a.m.)
But after it was determined the single supply point from which FFPC customers are fed has to have work done on it, and be powered down, that duration was increased to eight hours (9 a.m.-5 p.m.) on Monday afternoon.
This period of time then revised again just before noon yesterday to last about six hours.
Meanwhile, about 1,000 Hydro One customers living east of Fort Frances also can expect a power outage on Sunday from 9 a.m.-3 p.m.
A team of more than 40 Hydro One workers from Fort Frances, Geraldton, Nipigon, Thunder Bay, Dryden, Ear Falls, and Kenora, along with two helicopters, will be performing repairs on towers in the vicinity of the Noden Causeway and further east.
According to Hydro One’s website (www.hydroonenetworks.com), the areas affected will include Couchiching, Watten, Halkirk, Fairnington, Rainy Lake 17afn, Rainy Lake 18cfn, and Red Gut.
Paul Kiewning of Hydro One said some linemen will be fixing some “sky wire” that was clipped four or five years ago by a plane while others will be replacing U-bolts and insulators on some of the towers.
He added they’ll be taking out two circuits to do the work, meaning the area affected by the outage is somewhat extensive, and thus will give the unusually large crew a window of opportunity to get as much work done as possible that day.
“You’re going to see lots of activity,” Kiewning said.
“We’re praying for good weather. We’ve lucked out in the couple weeks with our outages,” he added, adding the work involving helicopters simply can’t be done if there’s wind, rain, or other inclement conditions.
