By Ruby Pratka
Local Journalism Initiative
Sutton Mayor Robert Benoit has put forward a proposal that would hypothetically eliminate the need for a new Hydro-Québec substation in Brome. The proposal, which Benoit presented at a public meeting in Sutton earlier this month, would require enlarging the existing substations in Sutton, Cowansville, Knowlton and Stukely. According to the presentation, electricity would run mainly along existing transmission corridors, although the lines linking Cowansville and Sutton would have to be rerouted. The existing 49kV lines would be gradually replaced with 69kV lines – not the 120kV lines currently proposed by Hydro-Québec – and Benoit said those lines would require single poles about 20 metres high, rather than the 40-metre-plus pylons required for the 120kV lines.
“The current 49kV line would be dismantled once the new 69kV line is built and operational;
similarly, the existing portion of the Knowlton and Sutton substations would be dismantled once the new 69kV equipment is operational,” Benoit explained. No new substation would be needed. “This proposal has a lot of advantages and very few drawbacks for us. … it minimizes the impacts not only for Sutton, but for the surrounding municipalities.”
Daniel Vaillant, a Québécois electrical engineer based in Lima, Peru and a former colleague of Benoit’s at Hydro-Québec, worked with Benoit as a volunteer consultant to develop the proposal over the past six months. “Hydro-Québec was saying there was only one possible solution, but [in fact] Hydro-Québec had figured out what was the best solution for them, and they wanted to see how they could implant it,” he said.
Vaillant told the BCN the corridors and substations used for the existing lines “could easily be scaled up…without creating new scars on the land.” He alleged that the utility was trying to “impose” new 120kV lines around the province, without taking into account local particularities.
Two of Benoit’s counterparts have expressed reservations about the proposal. “We thought they had the solution,” said Dunham mayor Pierre Janecek, who attended the June 6 meeting. “We saw the presentation and we were enthusiastic – if it can work, if we don’t have to have any high-voltage lines [running through Dunham], then that’s great, but we do have some doubts.” Janecek alleged that some of the measurements provided were off and some of the land proposed for the Sutton substation expansion is on a wetland; Benoit later said he didn’t know what Janecek was referring to. Cowansville Mayor Sylvie Beauregard told the BCN she would wait for further information from Hydro-Québec before commenting in detail, but the enlargement of the Cowansville substation laid out in the proposal was “not a simple thing.”
Hydro-Québec regional affairs advisor Ève-Marie Jodoin confirmed that Hydro-Québec representatives had met with officials from the town of Sutton, the MRC Brome-Missisquoi and the Union des producteurs agricoles on June 16 to formally receive the Sutton proposal. Jodoin said Hydro-Québec was analyzing the proposal and would be able to comment in more detail in a few weeks. “It’s very well-thought-out and was obviously done by conscientious people,” she said. “There have been a lot of public comments [on the proposed substation] but this is the only fleshed-out proposal for an alternative that we have received so far.”
Hydro-Québec currently plans to build a new substation to replace the existing Sutton and Knowlton substations and provide electricity to Sutton, Brome Lake and Cowansville. The location has not yet been pinpointed, but is expected to be somewhere on a section of rural land straddling the boundaries of Brome Lake, Brome village and Sutton. Construction is expected to begin in 2027. Jodoin said area residents are still welcome to submit questions, comments and suggestions in English or French via the Hydro-Québec website.