Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan
March 1, 2001

Don Sawruk, President
(906) 632-5150

Edison Sault Electric Company (ESE), in partnership with Great Lakes Power (GLP) of Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario Canada has received permission through the United States Department of Energy to allow the joint construction of an electrical intertie between Ontario and Michigan at Sault Ste. Marie.

President Donald Sawruk of Edison Sault Electric stated "This project is at the very early stages of conceptual design and is presently being driven by Great Lakes Power. This could become important to Edison Sault by providing our customers with another source of reasonably priced electricity. However, this project will only be done if it makes economic sense, and we are at least several years away from that possibility. We made this application now in order to speed any future steps associated with this intertie."

The proposed connection would have the ability to be upgraded at some future date and would have the initial capacity to handle no more than 50MW annually. The current combined system peak for the Edison Sault and Cloverland system is about 14OMW annually.

The construction of the connection between the two systems would be unique in that the project would be accomplished by directional boring and placing a cable several feet beneath the bottom of the St. Marys River. This type of construction activity is expected to have minimal, if any, impact upon the environment. Estimates for the total project cost are still in the developmental stage.

ESE and GLP are cautiously optimistic that several major preliminary steps yet to be taken including receiving Canadian federal and local permitting and, even more importantly, securing firm contracts for power sales need to be accomplished before any further action is to occur. Great Lakes Power is still studying the financial ramifications of the project in its entirety. The successful completion of all those steps could allow the project to move forward into the construction stage.

To contact Customer Service, send mail to customerserv@edisonsault.com.

Send mail to information@edisonsault.com with questions or comments about this web site.
Last modified: August 16, 2002