City subtly washes hands of Hydro project
I enjoyed reading this Le Devoir piece in which the city’s urban planning point man, Robert Beaudry, gives Hydro-Quebec a subtle nod for the substation on the library block. The city is not in a position to force Hydro to set up shop elsewhere. There you have it.
mare 01:41 on 2025-02-19 Permalink
I haven’t seen this mention, but there’s also the practical problem of the existing underground power cables. It’s certainly can’t be easy (nor cheap) to just extend them to a location many blocks away without opening a lot of roads and weave them through the existing underground infrastructure. Preferably well insulated from other cabling and ductwork.
Kate 10:25 on 2025-02-19 Permalink
It was mentioned here previously that the location has to be 500m or less from the existing substation on Berri. That’s not a huge perimeter and it’s virtually all built up.
Orr 21:57 on 2025-02-19 Permalink
Dream big Hydro-Quebec, and build it on top of the bottom half of the Berri street hill between Sherbrooke and Ontario streets. Bottom half of Berri hill would therefore become a tunnel.