Hydro One says the meticulous task of replacing the first of two international transmission lines across the St. Clair River this week, went off without a hitch.
The utility's Construction Operations Manager Terry Crowley says the job in St. Clair Township near Oil Springs Line, took a lot of coordination.
"It's a lot of organization, a lot of meetings because we're dealing with ITC [International Transmission Company of Michiganin the U.S. and their contractor and the river crossing on top of that, so there was a lot of pre-job meetings ahead of time to organize it all," he says.
Crowley says highly skilled workers climbed the transmission tower and used the old shield wire to feed the new line across the river and make a new connection.
"On our side we had a crew of about eight [workers] and then of course we had police on the river stopping boat traffic and the Coast Guard involved as well," he says.
Crowley says shield wire doesn't carry electricity. He says it houses fiber optic cables and serves to protect equipment from lightning strikes.
The telecommunication links are used for the protection, control, monitoring and operation of the international power lines.
The second shield wire upgrade is planned, weather permitting, June 27 or 28.
As part of the job, Hydro One will also be replacing existing communications equipment associated with the circuits.
