Power outages were the main topic during a recent chat between Hydro-Quebec and leaders from the Pontiac region.
The power company met with officials from the five municipalities and National Assembly member Andre Fortin to discuss heavy wind and rain that caused two major outages in late June and ways to keep power on in the region during bad weather.
The heavily wooded area is unfortunately prone to contact between power lines and vegetation, and Hydro-Quebec says they have been intensifying their local vegetation control operations over the last year.
They have also found out why the power supply faltered during the storms; the two distribution lines supplying power to the upper Pontiac were temporarily synchronized with the Quebec grid rather than the Ontario grid, as is usually the case, which made it more vulnerable during those weather events.
Hydro-Quebec says their analysis of the outages has “identified areas for improvement to react more effectively” and restore service more quickly, which they will follow up on next autumn.
(written by Kasey Egan)