Hydro One's proposed 180-kilometre, double-circuit 500-kilovolt transmission line between the Bruce Power facility near Kincardine and the utility's Milton switching station, paralleling an existing 500 kv transmission corridor, is expected to be in service by 2011. But it hit a snag last Thursday when the Niagara Escarpment Commission (NEC) decided not to give its approval.

Instead, the NEC has deferred its decision until its next meeting on Sept. 17, and has asked Hydro One to have more experts on hand than the landscape architects who represented the utility at the Aug. 20 meeting.

NEC manager Ken Whitbread explained that the proposed line will run over just seven kilometres of land falling within the commission's jurisdiction. He added, however, that the land in question is in the Halton Hills/Milton area and affects a lot of people.

"Our decision goes to all interested parties, as well as all people who live within 120 metres of the line," said Mr. Whitbread.

He said the NEC felt Hydro One did not provide the necessary expertise and evidence to prove that the new line was the only viable way to transport a predicted 8,100 megawatts of electricity from the Bruce area and an additional forecast 1,000 megawatts of wind power.

Mr. Whitbread also conceded that either way the NEC votes on the issue, its decision will likely be appealed by proponents or opponents of the line.

One such opponent, Chris Pappas, said the NEC's deferral couldn't be termed a major victory, but was a pleasant surprise nonetheless.

"Well, it's better than having your eyes poked out with a sharp stick," he quipped in an interview. "A lot of us were thinking the NEC would follow the OEB [Ontario Energy Board] and give the line approval with conditions."

The transmission line still does not have full OEB approval. The board has made that subject to a number of conditions, the most notable being Ontario Ministry of the Environment approval of an environmental assessment.

Critics of the line have maintained that Hydro One's electricity output forecasts at Bruce are unrealistic and feel technologies are in place that, if installed, would suffice and negate the need for a new line.

They point to the need for such technologies as FACTS (Flexible Alternate Current Transmission System) or series capacitors.

FACTS, for example, is a capacitor-based technol- ogy that utilizes communications enabled sensors, power-converters and actuator networks to produce a controllable and asset-efficient power grid. Power flow control on existing lines is achieved using many modules of a distributed static series capacitor (DSSC) device that can be clamped on to existing power lines.

It is almost a given that up to nine per cent of electricity generated at the plant is lost during transmission.

The addition of the new technology has been proven to dramatically decrease such losses to the point of almost eliminating them.

Taking into account that between 24,000 and 27,000 megawatts of electricity is being consumed in Ontario during peak periods, losses will be between 2,160 and 2,430.

Critics say that by cutting these losses through the new technology, it is conceivable that Bruce could deliver its share of electricity without a second line.