St. Catharines Receives $5.6M in Upgrades from Alectra Utilities to Improve Infrastructure and Reliability

February 20, 2024

n 2023, Alectra invested $5.6 million to construct and renew infrastructure, which will improve power reliability across the City of St. Catharines. This significant investment is part of Alectra’s ongoing commitment to modernize the city’s power grid and enhance reliability as the demand for electricity continues to rise. 

“Delivering safe and reliable electricity to our customers in St. Catharines is our top priority,” said Mike Matthews, Executive Vice President, Asset Strategy and Operations, Alectra. “We’re committed to investing in new technologies that will not only help prevent power outages but also minimize environmental impacts while offering a lower-cost alternative for our customers.” 

With parts of St. Catharines’ system reaching the end of its life cycle, renewing the deteriorating infrastructure is imperative to maintain reliability. This series of infrastructure upgrades will stabilize the existing system and reduce outage impacts in the community. 

In 2023, Alectra delivered significant capital renewal projects impacting over 30,000 homes and businesses by investing: 

• $2.3 million to rehabilitate underground assets including cable injection on Lake Street – Linwell Road, Geneva Street, and Scott Street 
• $2.3 million to replace overhead assets including poles, transformers, and switchgear
• $0.9 million to install new automated switching devices for faster power outage restoration
• $100,000 to construct new lines accommodating growth at Carlton Transformer Station to Linwell Road/Lake Street. 

Alectra is utilizing new technologies to increase efficiencies and reduce costs. One of those advancements is an innovative process called cable injection, which repairs, protects, and extends the life of underground cables without excavating and replacing them. 

For every kilometre of cable injection, Alectra avoids approximately 13 tonnes of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. To date, Alectra has injected more than 820 kilometres of underground cable across its service territories, avoiding over 10,000 tonnes of GHG emissions.