Townships residents fear new Hydro-Québec project will tarnish region's rural charm
Utility planning 'massive industrial scale project' in 'scenic milieu,' Brome–Missisquoi resident says
A project to modernize the electrical network in the Brome-Mississquoi region of Quebec's Eastern Townships has some residents in the area concerned.
Peter Smale, Jasmin Preville and Nancy Benitz say they support the idea of upgrading the network, but they have concerns about how the project is being communicated to the public — as well as its potential impact on the landscape.
The three neighbours live on Riddell Road, right on the border line between the communities of Sutton, Que., and the town of Lac-Brome. It is a picturesque, rural area that they say is frequented by cyclists in the summer.
Now, they've been told that Hydro-Québec is looking at a plot of land at the end of their road for a new electrical substation that would measure 40,000 square metres, or more than seven football fields.
"They presented this project that is a massive industrial scale project in an agricultural, residential, scenic milieu," Smale said.
He notes that the transformers at the station will be fed by a new transmission line supported by 45 metre tall metal towers, which he and his neighbours feel will spoil the views that draw so many to the region.
Aside from the project itself, Smale, Preville and Benitz are concerned about the way that the information is being shared.
"As a corporation, Hydro is not doing a particularly sincere and obvious job of communicating what the plans are," Smale said.
In December, Hydro-Québec held a public webinar on the project, but Preville said that information about the meeting was only published by local municipalities 48 hours beforehand.
On top of that, when the webinar did take place, it was in French only.
"We're in an area where 60 per cent of the population is Anglo and there's no communication in English," Preville said.
No location has been chosen yet, Hydro says
Hydro-Québec spokesperson Pascale Poinlane acknowledged that not all information about the project has been available in English, but he said that the power utility is making an effort to ensure that information is translated when possible.
When it comes to residents' concerns about the project, Poinlane said that the territory is currently served by electrical infrastructure that is old and overloaded. As a result, it has been more fragile and prone to outages in recent years.
"The power system in [the Eastern Townships] right now is operating at full capacity," the spokesperson said, explaining that many parts of the system are reaching the end of their functional lives and don't have sufficient voltage to meet modern power needs.
He emphasized that no decisions have been made at this point regarding the location of the new infrastructure in the region because the study and consultation process is ongoing.
As for the concerns over size and visibility of the new equipment, Poinlane said that the wooden poles holding up the current transmission lines to Sutton would simply not be able to sustain the new higher voltage line.
With the voltage more than doubled on the lines, the wires need to be higher off the ground to better insulate them from anything that might pass underneath, Poinlane said. He added the physical weight of the double circuit will also be greater than the wooden poles can handle.
The advantage of the double circuit, he said, is that if there is a failure on one line for some reason, power can still be run down the other, helping the network recover from an outage faster.
The study phase for the substation began in the fall and Poinlane said it should continue until the end of 2025.
The project is currently planned to be built and operational by 2028.
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