Niagara utilities build a shared transformer station

K-Tek Electro Services, consulting engineers of Stouffville, Ontario, part of the K-Line Group of Companies, helped design a new municipal transformer station that recently began operating for the Niagara West Transformation Corporation.
The Niagara West Transformation Corporation is a joint venture between Grimsby Power Incorporated and Peninsula West Utilities Limited. Grimsby Power serves approximately 9,000 customers and Pen West serves 14,800 customers. Instead of building two separate $7 million transformer stations, they decided to decided to work together to gain economies of scale and build a shared transformer with 132.8 MVA to serve the towns of Grimsby, Lincoln and West Lincoln. K-Line Group was the contractor and financial partner sharing the risk. The “open book” arrangement came with a maximum price guarantee of $8 million.
The MTS was designed by Elecsar Engineering with design input from K-Tek/K-Line and the owner.
To reduce the length of the outgoing feeder cables, an economic arrangement with the 230 kV incoming bus at 90 degrees to the transmission lines was chosen. For further savings the building is pre-engineered.
The goal was also to leave as much land as possible for farming or future severance. The compact footprint was achieved by incorporating gas insulated switchgear.