In January 2022, we started upgrading equipment near Dawson Road station in St. Boniface. Over the next 4 years, we will be replacing poles, transformers, distribution lines, and other equipment to improve reliability in the area and reduce the amount of time required to restore power in an outage.
The project will require temporary road closures to accommodate heavy equipment and planned power outages at various stages of the project. Affected customers will be notified.
Improvements
Dawson Road station and many of the poles and lines it feeds were built in the 1940s and need to be replaced. The residential and commercial area around it, and their respective power requirements, have grown significantly since then. To better support the electrical needs of area residents, meet future needs, and to stage this conversion work, we built Panet station and energized it in March 2020.
Dawson Road station at present day — much of the equipment is outdated and difficult to repair, and poles around it are nearing their useful end-of-life.
Enlarge image: View of the Dawson station yard and electrical equipment.
We are upgrading lines and poles from 4 kilovolt (kV) to 24 kV. About 210 poles will be replaced and re-strung. This work will be split into phases to keep the previous lines operational while new ones are added and reduce the number and duration of required outages.
The new poles will be higher to reflect current clearance requirements and ensure the insulators are further away from streets. Higher poles reduce the possibility of road grime accumulating on insulators and causing pole fires — a leading cause of power outages in the province. Some overhead poles in high traffic areas will be replaced with underground cable.
All of the new 24-kV lines will be supplied by our new Panet station. The Dawson Road station will be decommissioned and salvaged once the power line upgrades have been completed.
Project progress
The project will be done in phases to minimize traffic and neighbourhood disruptions. Our construction progress map will show the current project phase and road closures. These will be updated as progress continues. View the project map.
Updates to the project and its schedule will be posted as they occur. Residents affected by road closures or power outages will be notified directly.
Schedule
- Phase 1: replace poles, re-string lines, and update transformers on Dawson Rd. N. south of Dugald Rd. and the surrounding area, and on Marion St. east of Archibald St. and the surrounding area, and bury underground lines on Marion St. between Dupuy Ave. and Dawson Rd. N.
- Phase 2: replace poles, re-string lines, update transformers on Dawson Rd. N. north to Plinquet St., on Panet Rd. between Dugald Rd. and Dawson Rd. and the surrounding area.
- Phase 3: replace poles, re-string lines, update transformers on Dugald Rd. from Dawson Rd. N. to Lagimodiere Blvd. and the surrounding area.
- Phase 4: replace poles, re-string lines, update transformers on Archibald St. between Kavanagh St. and Guilbault St. and the surrounding area.
February 13, 2023: phases 1, 2, and 3 in progress.
Note: These are general descriptions of the construction phases – the order and scope may change as the project progresses.
Contact us
For more information about the Dawson Road station replacement project, email us.