Summerside continues energy independence push with substation repair timeline uncertain [Video]

Officials in P.E.I.’s second-largest city have lingering questions about the stability of the supply of power that passes through the Maritime Electric grid on its way to Summerside. 

Amid weather disruptions Tuesday morning in the midst of a storm that swept across Prince Edward Island, Summerside Electric announced it was shutting down power to most of the city’s downtown to repair damaged equipment.

That shutdown lasted only 30 minutes, but the bigger problem of keeping the city electrified remains far from temporary. 

“The reality is that the failure of this transformer, Maritime Electric’s transformer, has basically cut our supply, restricted our access to the power we buy from New Brunswick by about 50 per cent,” said Summerside Mayor Dan Kutcher. 

Maritime Electric, an indirect wholly owned subsidiary of Fortis Inc., serves as the conduit for Summerside to access the electricity it buys from New Brunswick to supplement the power the city generates itself through wind, …