Ontario Fast-Tracks Barrie–Sudbury Power Line to Ease Northern Grid Bottleneck and Spur Indigenous Partnerships – Wire Service Canada
February 10, 2026
Ontario is moving to accelerate construction of a major electricity transmission project linking Barrie and Sudbury, positioning the line as a cornerstone of its long-term strategy to meet surging power demand in northern Ontario while expanding Indigenous participation in energy infrastructure.
The province has formally designated the Barrie–Sudbury transmission line as a priority project and named Hydro One as developer and constructor. The single-circuit, 500-kilovolt line will span roughly 290 kilometres from the Essa Transformer Station near Barrie to the Hanmer Transformer Station in Sudbury, creating new capacity to move up to 1,500 megawatts northbound and 1,000 megawatts southbound.
