Locweld, a Candiac, Que.-based metal fabricator, has been awarded a major contract by Hydro-Québec for the new Micoua-Saguenay 735 kV transmission line.
Locweld will use about 20,000 tons of steel to manufacture the lattice transmission structures ordered by the Crown corporation. Production has started and will continue through February 2022.
The value of the contract is about $50 million.
“We have a long-standing relationship with Hydro-Québec, and are pleased with their confidence in Locweld,” said Pierre Lavoie, president of Locweld. “This important contract, in addition to securing the 144 jobs at our plant, will allow us to create more jobs – dozens – while generating significant economic benefits for our own suppliers.”
This contract comes on the heels of recent collaboration between Locweld and ValmontMD Utility, a division of the American multinational ValmontMD Industries, a manufacturer and distributor of infrastructure products and services.
The exclusive relationship with Valmont since December 2019 allows Locweld to increase its total annual production capacity to 90,000 tons.
Hydro-Québec’s ties to Locweld date back to 1970, following Locweld’s construction of a 220,000-square-foot plant in Candiac. Locweld has been involved in a number of major Hydro-Québec projects that have marked the province in the last 50 years. The company worked extensively to restore the steel structures that were destroyed during the Great Ice Storm in 1998.
The 735 kV Micoua-Saguenay transmission line extends for 262 km between the Micoua substation in the Côte-Nord region and the Saguenay substation in the Saguenay – Lac-Saint-Jean region.
The commissioning of the new line is scheduled for 2022.
