Hydro-Québec's electricity transmission system

Hydro-Québec's electricity transmission system (also known as the Quebec interconnection) is an international electric power transmission system centred in Quebec, Canada. The system pioneered the use of very high voltage 735-kilovolt (kV) alternating current (AC) power lines that link the population centres of Montreal and Quebec City to distant hydroelectric power stations like the Daniel-Johnson Dam and the James Bay Project in northwestern Quebec and the Churchill Falls Generating Station in Labrador (which is not part of the Quebec interconnection). The system contains more than of lines and 530 electrical substations. It is managed by Hydro-Québec TransÉnergie, a division of the crown corporation Hydro-Québec and is part of the Northeast Power Coordinating Council. It has 17 interconnectors with the systems in Ontario, Newfoundland and Labrador, New Brunswick, and the Northeastern United States, and features 6,025 megawatts (MW) of interconnector import capacity and 7,974 MW of interconnector export capacity. Major expansion of the network began with the commissioning of the 735 kV AC power line in November 1965, as there was a need for electricity transmission over vast distances from the north to southern Quebec. Much of Quebec's population is served by a few 735 kV power lines. This contributed to the severity of the power outage following the North American ice storm of 1998. TOC The first hydroelectric stations in Quebec were built by private entrepreneurs in the late 19th century. In 1903 the first long distance high-voltage transmission line in North America was built, a 50 kV line connecting a Shawinigan powerstation to Montréal, away. In the first half of the 20th century, the market was dominated by regional monopolies, whose service was publicly criticised. In response, in 1944 the provincial government created Hydro-Quebec from the expropriated Montreal Light, Heat & Power. In 1963 Hydro-Québec purchased the shares of nearly all remaining privately owned electrical utilities then operating in Quebec and undertook construction of the Manicouagan-Outardes hydroelectric complex.