Outaouais

The Outaouais back-to-back station, located near Ottawa/Gatineau on the Québec side of the border between the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Québec, consists of two independent 625 MW blocks. The station is fully owned by the provincial utility, Hydro-Québec (HQ).

The turn-key Outaouais project was awarded to Hitachi Energy in October 2006. The first 625 MW block was commissioned in June 2009, and handed over to Hydro-Québec for commercial operation. The second block was completed and handed over in October 2009.

The station is connected to the HQ 315 kV network, which was strengthened in 2010 by the addition of two more transmission lines from the Chénier station near Montréal. In Ontario, the Outaouais converters are tied with a double circuit to the Hydro One 240 kV network at Hawthorne.

Outaouais substation is a key part of HQ's Ontario interconnection project, designed to reinforce the 1,250 MW interconnection capacity with Ontario under all grid operating conditions, and promotes power interchanges between Québec and Ontario. It will also improve the reliability of native load service and secure power supply in the Outaouais region of western Québec.

For each block, there are nine AC harmonic filters on the 240 kV side and six filters on the 315 kV side to ensure that stringent filtering criteria are met. Extensive measures have also been taken to meet noise restrictions.

Hitachi Energy's scope of supply includes design and manufacture of equipment, installation, commissioning and civil works, using the latest developments in power semiconductor valves and advanced control systems. The converter transformers were built both in Sweden (5 units) and Canada (9 units).