Toronto & Niagara Power Transmission Line at 60,000 Volts

Niagara Power for Toronto.

It has been determined that the transmission of the energy of Niagara to Toronto, Ont., is to be accomplished at a voltage of 60,000. For some little time experiments have been in progress at Niagara Falls, N. Y., where a line on which 60,000 volts were carried has been experimented with, the result being that it is announced that this voltage will be applied to the transmission line about go miles long, extending from the Canadian side at Niagara to the city of Toronto. In the plant of the Canadian Niagara Power Company the power will be developed at a voltage of 11,000, and in units of 10,000 hp. Details of this have already been given in ELECTRICAL WORLD AND ENGINEER. A contract has been awarded to the Canadian General Electric Company for 12 transformers, to be used in stepping-up the voltage from 11,000 to 60,000. The amount of power to be transmitted to Toronto at the start will be 10,000 hp, the entire product of one of the generators.

While it has not been stated what kind of cables are to be used on the transmission line, the indications are that aluminum will be the metal favored. It will be recalled that the last transmission system installed between Niagara Falls and Buffalo by the Niagara Falls Power Company uses aluminum cables. These have been giving good service, and when it is considered that the use of aluminum will aid in effecting quite a saving in the pole line construction for the distance of 90 miles, there is some reason why the white metal should be used.

Work on the tunnel and wheel-pit of the Canadian Niagara Power Company is moving along at good speed. Over 1,000 feet of the tunnel has been driven, and the pit is being sunk at a satisfactory speed. While the Canadian Niagara Power Company will be the generating company, it is not certain whether it will undertake the Toronto transmission, or whether it will dispose of its current product at the station to another company, which will transmit it to Toronto. At the last session of the Dominion parliament the Toronto and Niagara Power Company was incorporated. So far, little is known of this latter company, but it may be its purpose to participate in the transmission of Niagara power to Toronto.

Toronto has been an eager applicant for the power service of Niagara, and for all the power the Canadian Niagara Power Company may have developed the latter half of next year; there will, perhaps, be little need of Toronto waiting until that time, providing the transmission line shall be completed before then, for the installation of the new wheel-pit and station of the Niagara Falls Power Company, at Niagara Falls, N. Y., will, it is expected, be supplying power thin coming fall, and could spare 10,000 for the Toronto transmission if it was desired. In this connection, it is interesting to note that at a. meeting of the directors of the Canadian Niagara Power Company held in Toronto Saturday, June 7, W. H. Beatty was re-elected president; William B. Rankine, vice-president and treasurer, and A. Monro Grier, secretary. The executive board is composed of the president, vice-president and Wallace Nesbitt.