Latest news with #JillPitcher
Yahoo
6 days ago
- Climate
- Yahoo
Another fire is burning out of control near Churchill Falls, but no impact to community, says N.L. Hydro
A wildfire continues to burn near Churchill Falls, Labrador as the provincial government warns the surrounding area is at a high risk. According to the provincial wildfire dashboard, the fire broke out on Monday and has burned approximately one hectare. The province's fire hazard rating map, which was last updated on Monday, indicates the area around the hydroelectric plant in the community has a high and very high fire hazard rating. "As of this morning, there are no impacts on the community or operations," wrote company spokesperson Jill Pitcher in an email to CBC News. CBC News has asked the Department of Fisheries, Forestry and Agriculture for an update on Tuesday's firefighting efforts. On Monday, the department said the fire started near the ski hill area of the community and there was no immediate risk to health or safety. The statement also said Newfoundland and Labrador Hydro was fighting the fire from the air with helicopters, while another helicopter, water bomber and three firefighters were dispatched from Happy-Valley Goose Bay to assist. Last month, emergency crews responded to an out of control wildfire near the community that burned an estimated 170 hectares. These fires come approximately a year after a large wildfire forced thousands of people to flee the community, including power plant workers. At the time, it raised concerns about the community's vital hydroelectric power plant. Other areas of Labrador also have high fire hazard ratings, and the towns of Labrador City and Wabush have issued fire bans due to concerns over high winds. On the island, multiple fire bans are in place across the Avalon Peninsula, including St. John's, Mount Pearl, Conception Bay South and Portugal Cove-St Philip's. Download our free CBC News app to sign up for push alerts for CBC Newfoundland and Labrador. Sign up for our daily headlines newsletter here. Click here to visit our landing page.
CBC
09-04-2025
- Climate
- CBC
Muskrat Falls lines failed 6 times since January
Social Sharing The Muskrat Falls transmission lines failed six times during the first quarter of 2025, although Newfoundland and Labrador Hydro says the problems had no impact on electricity customers. The problems took on average nine hours to repair, according to the Crown utility, which is still unable to shut down the heavy oil-burning Holyrood Thermal Generating Station because of ongoing concerns about the reliability of Muskrat Falls power. N.L. Hydro revealed the outages on the Labrador-Island Link (LIL), the vast 1,100km transmission system linking the Muskrat Falls dam to eastern Newfoundland, in a three-page letter sent to the Public Utilities Board (PUB) last Thursday. According to the document, the LIL, a system carrying electricity over two independent lines or "poles," was completely offline during only two of the six incidents. During the other four incidents, one of the two poles was still online and able to continue carrying Muskrat Falls electricity toward the Soldier's Pond substation outside St. John's. What's to blame? N.L. Hydro spokesperson Jill Pitcher said in an email that problems with weather and "control system component issues" caused the lines to trip three times in January, once in February and twice in March. "Trips are experienced on all transmission lines," she said. "Transmission lines are designed to trip in response to a variety of system and/or weather conditions. The trips specific to the Labrador-Island Link in Q1 did not interrupt or impact our ability to supply our customers with electricity." Since coming into service, the Muskrat Falls lines have experienced a series of problems, notably related to ice and high winds. Repairs have sometimes taken weeks, as some towers are located in isolated areas and difficult to access depending on the time of year. N.L. Hydro has, however, repeatedly emphasized in recent months that the Muskrat Falls lines are becoming increasingly reliable and that new assets will always experience problems in the first years after commissioning. In 2023, the utility announced a four-year program of repairs and upgrades to the LIL, pegged at $28 million. It said thousands of pieces of equipment had to be replaced or installed, including 1,308 turnbuckles used to regulate voltage and cable length. The 824-megawatt dam is not currently operating at full capacity, as one of its four generating units needs to be completely dismantled, given a hydrogen embrittlement issue. Unit 2 will be out of service until May, according to separate correspondence with the PUB. 22 days ago Duration 1:04 The Holyrood Thermal Generating Station, the second largest industrial polluter in Newfoundland and Labrador, should have closed after the commissioning of the Muskrat Falls project, but will remain open until the beginning of the next decade, given continuing doubts about the reliability of the LIL. N.L. Hydro promises to close the plant in the early 2030s, when it will have built a new combustion turbine at Holyrood and an eighth generating unit at the existing Bay d'Espoir dam. Those projects are expected to cost just shy of $2 billion, according to the Crown utility. A recent independent report stated that keeping the existing Holyrood plant open just five years beyond its potential 2030 retirement date would cost N.L. Hydro more than $700 million. The Muskrat Falls project was expected to cost $7.4 billion when it was approved by the Newfoundland and Labrador government in 2012. By June 2023, the bill had risen to $13.5 billion.
