Through the Watay Project (Wataynikaneyap Transmission Project), several remote First Nations communities, the Canadian indigenous peoples, located in northwest Ontario, will be connected to the power grid. The project, which consists of the construction of a new 1,800-kilometer transmission network, will ensure that 24 of these isolated communities, some 15,000 people who currently have only diesel generation, have a reliable clean energy supply.
The Watay Project
The Wataynikaneyap Transmission Project's new transmission network will connect these communities, considered isolated because they do not have year-round road access, to the province's power grid, thus ensuring their steady access to electricity.
In several phases up to 2023, 1,800 kilometers of transmission lines will be built, as well as new distribution infrastructures and 22 new substations, with a voltage from 25kV to 230kV.
Project Benefits
This project will provide access to clean and reliable energy to thousands of residents of these isolated communities, and will eliminate their current dependence on diesel generation, which is economically unsustainable, environmentally hazardous, and unable to respond to all energy demand.
It will also prevent, over the next four decades, the emission of 6.6 million tonnes of CO2, which is equivalent to taking out 35,000 cars.
In addition, it is estimated that the Wataynikaneyap Broadcast Project, managed directly by First Nations, will generate nearly 800 jobs and close to $900 million in social value, thus helping its prosperity and economic self-determination.
Arteche’s Commitment to the Project
Arteche provides inductive voltage transformers, intensity transformers and combined dry insulation transformers of 25kV and 44kV, intensity transformers and capacitive voltage transformers of 115kV and 230kV oil paper, and voltage transformers for 115kV and 230kV gas isolated auxiliary services (PVT or SSVT). Due to the remote location and difficult access, VPTs are suitable as a reliable and economical source of low voltage power for the auxiliary services of the substation (control and protection equipment, security systems, etc.). In addition, they can also be used as a low-voltage source for rural electrification applications or isolated and remote communities.
