October 31, 2023 – Ontario’s largest electricity transmission and distribution provider, Hydro One, broke ground on its new, $120-million regional operations centre and provincial warehouse in Orillia.

“We anticipate that the construction of Hydro One’s facilities in West Orillia will contribute $200 to $300 million in near-term economic impact for our municipality,” said Mayor Don McIsaac. “I would like to thank Hydro One for its commitment to investing in Orillia and the strong community support they have demonstrated since coming to our city.”

The facilities will be located close to Hydro One’s new provincial grid control centre.

The two buildings are part of an agreement with the city to build three new facilities to help grow and diversify the local economy. Up to 250 employees across the three facilities will now call Orillia home.

(After acquiring Orillia Power Distribution Corp. and the business and distribution assets of Peterborough Distribution Inc. (PDI), Hydro One said it anticipates making additional investments in the community, including a new provincial warehouse and regional operations centre.)

The 29,000-sf regional operations centre will be home to line maintainers and electrical maintainers, while the 120,000-sf warehouse will store equipment and other materials that allow Hydro One field crews to complete investments to the local grid and respond to outages.

The operations centre is expected to be operational by March 2025, and the warehouse in May 2025.