Hydro provides winter readiness update for customers; commits to regular updates
November 27, 2014
Microsoft PowerPoint – Briefing_Final
Scott Crosbie, Chief Operating Officer for Newfoundland and Labrador Hydro (Hydro) gave an update today on the utility’s commitment to providing reliable power to customers this winter season and into the future.
“We have been moving forward under an aggressive schedule and work has been completed as planned over the summer and early fall maintenance period ,” said Crosbie. “All of this work has placed Hydro in a very solid position as we head into the colder months.”
Critical and fundamental maintenance, shutdowns, upgrades and testing on all current generation equipment has been completed or is in its final stages. This includes major capital work on the Hardwoods and Stephenville gas turbines and the Holyrood generating plant, as well as work on hydroelectric plants in locations such as Bay d’Espoir, Cat Arm, and Hinds Lake.
Hydro has also secured a capacity assistance arrangement with industrial customer, Corner Brook Pulp and Paper making additional power available for other customers when required.
“Our customer demand forecast shows that with the work completed on existing units we have strong generation reserves and are ready to meet winter peak demand in terms of power supply,” explained Crosbie. “In addition, with our 24 hour day/7 day week operation we will be tracking and managing our reserves closely.”
Hydro has also been working diligently to bring a new combustion generating turbine online as well. “We are in the final stages of this project,” said Crosbie. “Our focus now is to ensure that as we near completion, we are maintaining our focus on doing the work safely and with the quality we need to ensure reliability.”
“This generating plant will be part of our electricity system well into the future,” he explained, “so we need to ensure that we take the required time to do a quality job to bring sustained reliable operation from the plant.” The new combustion turbine, when online, will provide additional generating reserves for the system allowing for an added level of security of supply.
Hydro has also completed extensive preventative and corrective work on its complex network of transmission infrastructure across Newfoundland and Labrador, including large system transformers in Sunnyside and Oxen Pond terminal stations on the Avalon Peninsula. Furthermore, an accelerated air blast circuit breaker maintenance program has been implemented to ensure reliable operation of these breakers.
Another area of focus for Hydro is increased open and transparent communication with electricity customers.
“We heard very clearly from customers that they wanted more information and they wanted to know what was happening on the electricity system so they could plan and prepare if something was changing,” said Dawn Dalley, VP Corporate Relations and Customer Service. “We arefocused on providing that information and we want to keep people informed about our winter readiness plans and the electricity system status on an ongoing basis.”
Although Hydro is expecting to meet customer electricity needs this winter, Hydro and Newfoundland Power have developed a protocol to provide advance notification to customers if there are any system concerns. There are three levels of notification and customers will be provided specific information at each level on the status of the electricity system and steps they should take. This type of notification system is a communication method used by other utilities in North America and will help keep our customers informed on a regular basis
For full details on Hydro’s winter readiness work and to view the presentation, please visit www.nlhydro.com, check out Hydro on twitter at @nlhydro or Facebook at facebook.com/nlhydro.
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