Energy was in the air in Orillia Friday.
Hydro One broke ground earlier today on its new, $120-million regional operations centre and provincial warehouse.
Teri French, executive vice-president, operations and customer experience with Hydro One, says the new facilities will be built on 21.5 acres of land at 6 Nelle Carter Court in west Orillia.
Hydro One crews and teams from forestry, distribution lines, and distribution services will be moving to the Orillia facilities.
"This will bring a lot of investment to the Orillia area," French said. "In addition, we are moving about 120 of our resources from forestry across the province to this location."
French says the new warehouse will be housing valuable equipment that will help restore power "more quickly and ensure reliability for the area."
"Bringing the infrastructure here will make sure that we have better exposure to get to outages quicker," she said. "We will have a presence here as well as equipment."
Mayor Don McIsaac says the new facilities represent "one of the most significant investments in Orillia's history."
"We are quite excited to have it," he said. "This will create a hundred odd jobs with Hydro One, but then there will be a roll-off effect of other jobs in the area that benefits from people who work for Hydro (One) spending their money. It's enormous."
McIsaac says the Hydro One investment is not only in bricks and mortar but also in the people of Orillia. He says the construction of all Hydro One's facilities in west Orillia will contribute $200 million to $300 million in near-term economic impact for the municipality.
"Hydro One has been a gracious and exciting partner to work with," he said.
French notes that both facilities will be completed and operating by May 2025.
"We are really excited to be here and to be partnering with the City of Orillia," French said. "This is a really great opportunity for this area of the province."
Hydro One opened its provincial grid control centre in Orillia in 2021.
A little over seven years ago, Hydro One approached Orillia with the idea of purchasing the distribution arm of Orillia Power.
Initially, the city balked at the proposal. But “when we realized what was on the table, we decided we should listen,” said then-mayor Steve Clarke, alluding to investments such as the one announced today.
Eventually, the municipality agreed to the sale, while retaining the generation component of Orillia Power.
At the time, Hydro One had promised to build a new provincial grid control centre in Orillia; that $150-million facility began operations in 2021.
In January of 2021, Hydro One officially purchased 21.5 acres of land in the Horne Business Park, where the two new facilities will be constructed.
