Hydro One to boost Leamington, greenhouses power supply with new line

Sharon Hill, Windsor Star - thegrowthop.com Posted 5 years ago
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Leamington and its ever-expanding greenhouse industry will get a major power boost with a new 230-kilovolt transmission line from Chatham to Leamington, Hydro One announced Thursday.

The line that will require new towers to be built is expected to be completed by the end of 2025 and will carry an additional 400 megawatts of power to the Leamington area.

That “significant investment” will allow for more than 40 medium-sized greenhouses to start operating, said Hydro One communications director Jay Armitage.

“Some greenhouses are very energy hungry, and they may need even more, so that’s why we’re trying to keep up with this fast-growing industry,” she said of the area that in the last few years added cannabis to the list of vegetable crops and plants grown in greenhouses.

Hydro One, Ontario’s largest electricity transmission and distribution provider, had already responded to the greenhouse expansion with a multi-stage, $193-million investment to add 600 megawatts. Armitage said the power will be brought on in stages so the industry won’t have to wait until 2025 to access more electricity. About 200 megawatts have already been added with a new transmission station, she said. Another station should be completed by the end of 2020 and a third transmission station is being planned.

A city the size of Ottawa might need that amount of power

Between the new line and transmission stations, about 1,000 megawatts will be added to the Leamington area.

“That’s an enormous amount of power to be going to rural Southwestern Ontario,” Armitage said. “To give you a comparison, a city the size of Ottawa might need that amount of power.”

Leamington Mayor Hilda MacDonald welcomed the announcement, saying the greenhouse and manufacturing sectors in Leamington had been asking for more electricity.

“The hydro transmission expansion is a very good news story for Leamington,” MacDonald said in a text from the Netherlands where she’s gaining information for the local greenhouse industry. “This build brings in a stable and consistent energy source that helps our businesses to expand, drawing more jobs to the Leamington area.”

Peter Quiring, owner and CEO of NatureFresh Farms in Leamington, which grows greenhouse vegetables, said in the announcement that the transmission line will help the greenhouse industry that contributes $1.5 billion and 10,000 jobs to the Ontario economy.

“Electricity infrastructure must keep up with this industry’s historic rate of growth,” Quiring said. “This project will help to keep businesses and jobs in southwestern Ontario and facilitate the construction of approximately 800 acres of new greenhouses with grow lights for year-round growing.”

Greenhouses that grow vegetables and some specialty crops such as strawberries have been adding lights in the last several years so they don’t just have to rely on sunshine and so they can grow crops year-round.

For the new line, Hydro One will start working on the development portion of the project, which includes an environmental assessment, preliminary engineering design, cost estimates and public and Indigenous consultation.

Armitage said it’s not as simple as adding a line to existing hydro towers along Highway 401. Existing land — building new towers next to existing towers — will be looked at, but she said it’s too early to know where the transmission line will be built or even calculate the cost before an environmental assessment is conducted.

Hydro One President and CEO Mark Poweska said in a news release that a safe, strong and reliable transmission system will support economic growth, jobs and the fast-growing industry.

“We have been listening to our customers and working with our industry partners to support the thriving greenhouse industry and Leamington’s growing economy,” he said.

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Stephen MacKenzie, president and CEO of the WindsorEssex Economic Development Corporation, thanked Hydro One for advocating for the upgrades that will help the economy here and in Ontario.

In 2015, former town mayor John Paterson and the Ontario Greenhouse Vegetable Growers organization said Leamington needed extra electricity to keep greenhouse operations expanding locally instead of forcing them south of the border. At the time, about 660 acres of greenhouse expansion worth $500 million was expected by 2020.

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