Toronto Hydro broke ground on a brand new downtown transformer station early last week, the first station built by Toronto Hydro in the downtown core in almost 60 years.
The new Clare R. Copeland Transformer Station--named after Toronto Hydro Chairman of the Board of Directors, Clare Copeland, who served from 1999 to 2013--is expected to be completed by the end of next year.
Located at John Street Roundhouse Park (just North of Lakeshore Boulevard), the new station will make use of and preserve a historical railroad building called the Machine Shop. The Machine Shop will house some above ground controls, but the majority of the station, including transformers, will be built underground.
But the small visual presence of the station belies the fact that its construction marks a major infrastructural investment in Toronto's electric grid.
Once completed, Toronto Hydro will have invested approximately $195 million in the new station and will have added a total of 144 Mega Volt Amps of capacity to the system, enough electricity to power more than 70 condo buildings.
Given the rising downtown population (Toronto's downtown population grew by more than 50 per cent between 2006 and 2011) and the ongoing Waterfront re-development, the new station is being touted as a much-needed solution to an increasingly stressed downtown electricity grid.
"This station will help address the immediate need for additional capacity to the downtown electricity grid and allow for critical infrastructure upgrades at Windsor Station, which is one of only five stations powering the downtown core," stated Anthony Haines, President and CEO of Toronto Hydro in a press release.
The new station is expected to help back up the existing Windsor Transformer Station, located on Front Street, in order to enable staged replacements of its end-of-life equipment.
Writer: Katia Snukal
Source: Toronto Hydro