London Hydro Wins Award for Powerline Safety from Electrical Safety Authority

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London, Ontario – The Electrical Safety Authority (ESA), which enhances public electric safety on behalf of the province of Ontario, awarded London Hydro, Bluewater Power and Hydro One with their Powerline Safety Award in recognition of the three utilities' collaboration on moving four enormous tanks across Southwestern Ontario from Sarnia to Labatt Breweries in London.

All three utilities engaged in high-level planning discussions with Labatt and their contractors to align timing, coordination, and expectations. Safety and minimizing customer impact were top priorities for the move, which took months of preparation.

The vessels, each measuring over 33 metres long and 6.62 metres wide, travelled 117 km over three days at a maximum speed of 50 km per hour. Approximately 140 Bluewater Power, Hydro One, and London Hydro employees worked over three days to safely lift, disconnect, and reconnect powerlines to get the tanks to downtown London without incident.

Routes were chosen to ensure a minimum number of customers were affected. The utilities notified the customers who would experience interruptions beforehand by letter or auto-dialer. Lines were reconnected as quickly as possible before teams went ahead to continue assisting with the move.

London Hydro is honoured to be recognized alongside Bluewater Power and Hydro One by the ESA. This large-scale project employed best safety practices and is an important example of collaboration, focusing on accomplishing a significant logistical task with minimal disruption to the public.

Read the ESA’s press release for a full list of award winners.

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For more information contact:

Kathryn Arnot

(519) 661-5800 ext. 4524

Cell (226) 559-2209