With nine Municipal Substations located across Oshawa, these locations and the critical infrastructure housed within play an integral role in delivering a safe and reliable supply of electricity to more than 62,000 customers across our city.
Located near the intersection of Hilcroft St. and Ritson Rd. in the O’Neill neighbourhood of Oshawa, Municipal Substation #2 (MS #2) is one of Oshawa’s longest serving substations, helping to power our city since 1984.
What is a Municipal Substation?
Located strategically throughout our service territory, Municipal Substations enable us to receive high-voltage electricity from the provincial grid and ‘step it down’ for use by our customers.
Each of our substations are fed from the provincial power grid through 44kV feeder wires that allow electricity to flow into our substation transformers. As the electricity flows through our substation, our infrastructure allows us to convert the 44kV electricity into 13.8kV electricity that will flow out of our substations and through the wires that stretch across Oshawa.
As the last piece of the puzzle, our pole top and underground transformers located throughout the city step the electricity down even further for final delivery and end use at your home or business.
On November 21, 2023, a brand new eHouse Solution was delivered and installed at MS #2. The new installation was preceded by important preparation work at the location including the construction of a new foundation and the installation of new 15kV feeder wires and additional wiring required to energize the new unit and increase station capacity to feed growing customer loads in the future. The new, modern infrastructure allows for seamless integration into our existing SmartGrid, allowing us to further our SmartGrid initiatives and help minimize the impact of outages on our customers.
This new eHouse solution replaces a 39 year-old unit and marks the first of four planned replacements at substations across Oshawa. Substation upgrades in older areas of our city are an example of strategic asset management, the guiding principle of our ongoing Capital Rebuild Plan. By planning maintenance and replacements that will create the greatest impact on our grid, we can maximize our Capital Rebuild budget while working to minimize the risk of major equipment failure.
“Upgrades to our long serving Municipal Substations play an important role in maintaining our great record of reliability. Through strategic upgrades in older areas of our city and the development of new infrastructure that enables Oshawa’s record growth, we can ensure that all customers across our city receive equitable service. By maintaining and upgrading our existing grid, we can ensure our grid is ready to accommodate growth and electrification while continuing to deliver the level of service our customers expect.”
– Mike Weatherbee, Managing Director, Oshawa Power
Oshawa Power would like to extend our thanks to our crew members and contractors who braved the elements to ensure the delivery and installation were completed on time.
