THUNDER BAY, Ont. — A utility tasked with connecting more than a dozen Indigenous communities to Ontario’s power grid says funding is now in place for the project.
Wataynikaneyap Power says it has completed financing for the project, estimated to cost $1.9 billion.
The Wataynikaneyap Power Transmission Project aims to connect 17 remote communities currently relying on diesel power to the province’s electricity grid.
Last December, Pikangikum First Nation became the first community to receive power from the new transmission lines.
The project, controlled by 24 Indigenous communities, launched in 2015 with a plan to build a 1,800-kilometre transmission line.
The full project is expected to be completed by 2023.
