Newfoundland and Labrador Hydro (Hydro) has begun work on its annual maintenance program across the provincial electricity system.

Hydro’s annual maintenance season generally begins in April when customer electricity demand begins to decline and extends to November in preparation for the winter months.

During this time, Hydro maintains, replaces, and upgrades electricity equipment throughout the province. This includes preventative and corrective maintenance work and inspections, as well as larger capital projects.

Generation units and transmission lines will be removed from service for periods of time in order to complete the work. These yearly planned outages are closely monitored and coordinated to ensure customer supply and system reserve requirements are met.

As well as being the primary generator of electricity in the province, Hydro delivers power directly to customers in coastal and rural communities on the island and Labrador. Annual work, such as pole maintenance, will be completed on distribution lines in Hydro service areas.

The first large project started this week when Unit 3 at the Holyrood Thermal Generating Station was removed from service for an extended period to complete maintenance work. The annual maintenance of two generation units at the Bay d’Espoir Hydroelectric Generating Station also began in April. No customer impact is anticipated resulting from these generation maintenance periods.

Major work will be undertaken this year in terms of new transmission connections to the existing electricity system: the new transmission line from Bay d’Espoir to the Avalon; the new transmission line from Soldiers Pond to Hardwoods; and the connection of the Maritime Link to the Bottom Brook terminal station.

Hydro is committed to keeping customers informed as we continue to invest in reliability over the coming months. All system work is evaluated to eliminate or minimize customer impact. We will inform customers in relevant communities in advance of any planned power outages necessary to ensure the safety of work crews and the public.

All equipment advisories will be posted on our website here.

For additional updates and information, please follow us on social media @ www.twitter.com/nlhydro or www.facebook.com/nlhydro or visit us online at www.nlhydro.com