WAWA -- After three years of delays involving a global pandemic and conflicts with forest fires, the East-West Tie Transmission Line is now complete.
The service is ready to provide 230 kilovolts of reliable energy to Northwestern’s between Wawa and Thunder Bay. The 450-kilometre transmission line will relieve the long stand constraints on the electricity in the region.
Costing more than $700 million to complete, NextBridge, in partnership with NextEra Energy, Enbridge, and OMERS infrastructure hope the new line will be seen as an asset to the region as it will provide economic opportunities in the mining sector of the area. In line with Minister Greg Rickford’s critical mineral strategy, critical minerals such as lithium and cobalt are necessary to the manufacturing of batteries for electric cars. In addition, with this Transmission Line in place, the region will have access to 450 megawatts of safe power allowing the communities and business to take full advantage of 94 per cent clean electricity.
“The East-West Tie will meet the energy needs of communities and industrial sectors for many years to come,” said Ontario’s Minister of Energy Todd Smith.
Smith referred to the growing battery manufacturing sectors in Southern Ontario which Lithium and Cobalt minerals are crucial to manufacture batteries for electric vehicles. Smith said, “these kinds of people are going to need lithium, they’re going to need cobalt, there are going to need all of those critical minerals that are available through the mining here in Northern Ontario.” With the new line, mining companies will have easier access to mining these areas.
Rickford states that the East-West Tie will strengthen ties with Indigenous business helping to “make these projects a reality and it will lead to long-term economic opportunities in the region.” In other words, the mining sectors aren’t the only places that will benefit from the East-West Tie. The communities connected to the line will be provided with affordable energy and jobs.
Project director Jennifer Tidmarsh explains, “years of collaboration with Indigenous communities, countless stakeholders and right-of-way communities from Thunder Bay to Wawa were required to get us here today.”
The East-West Tie is hailed as necessary step in building partnership with Indigenous communities in the area. In partnership with of Bamkushwada, a group comprised of the surrounding indigenous communities, and Supercom Industries, a 100 per cent Indigenous owned project hiring firm, has ensured 200 Indigenous workers (60 per cent of the construction workforce) has contributed 4-million-person hours of labour.
“Now that it’s come into service, the East-West Tie Line will support a new ear of economic growth and opportunity for the region. This is good news for families and business in Northern Ontario and I applaud the Government of Ontario and the project partners for the bold action in bringing this project to fruition with a focus on Indigenous inclusion and participation,” Chief Peter Collins of Fort Williams First Nation said about the project. Therefore, having access to the East-West Tie enables these communities to use the affordable energy source to help develop new business.
