Beauharnois generating station | |
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Location | Beauharnois, Quebec, Canada |
Coordinates | 45°18′50″N73°54′32″W / 45.31389°N 73.90889°W Coordinates: 45°18′50″N73°54′32″W / 45.31389°N 73.90889°W |
Construction began | 1930 |
Opening date | 1961 |
Owner(s) | Hydro-Québec |
Dam and spillways | |
Type of dam | Gravity dam |
Impounds | Saint Lawrence River |
Power Station | |
Hydraulic head | 24.39 m (80.02 ft) |
Turbines | 36 |
Installed capacity | 1,903 MW |
Official name | Beauharnois Power Development National Historic Site of Canada |
Designated | 1990 |
The Beauharnois generating station is a run-of-the-river hydroelectric power station along the Saint Lawrence Seaway on the Saint Lawrence River, in Quebec, Canada. The station was built in three phases, [1] and comprises 36 turbines, capable of generating up to 1,903 MW of electrical power. Constructions on the facility began in 1930 and was completed in 1961. [2]
The facility was designated a National Historic Site of Canada in 1990. [3]
The Saint Lawrence Seaway is a system of locks, canals, and channels in Canada and the United States that permits oceangoing vessels to travel from the Atlantic Ocean to the Great Lakes of North America, as far inland as Duluth, Minnesota, at the western end of Lake Superior. The seaway is named for the Saint Lawrence River, which flows from Lake Ontario to the Atlantic Ocean. Legally, the seaway extends from Montreal, Quebec, to Lake Erie, and includes the Welland Canal.
The Manicouagan or Manicuagan River, often clipped to Manic, is a river in Côte-Nord region of Quebec, Canada. The river originates in the Manicouagan Reservoir and flows approximately 200 kilometres (120 mi) south, emptying into the Saint Lawrence River near Baie-Comeau. The reservoir, also known as Lake Manicouagan, lies within the remnant of an ancient eroded impact crater (astrobleme). It was formed following the impact of a 5 kilometres (3.1 mi) diameter asteroid which excavated a crater originally about 100 km (62 mi) wide, although erosion and deposition of sediments have since reduced the visible diameter to about 72 km (45 mi). The Manicouagan crater is the sixth-largest confirmed impact crater known on earth.
The Beauharnois Canal is located in southwestern Quebec, Canada. The canal is part of the Saint Lawrence Seaway.
The Beauharnois scandal was a Canadian political scandal around 1930. The Beauharnois Light, Heat and Power Company had given $700,000 to the ruling Liberal Party of Canada in the run-up to the 1930 federal election in exchange for the right to change the flow of the St. Lawrence River through building a hydroelectric power station.
Run-of-river hydroelectricity (ROR) or run-of-the-river hydroelectricity is a type of hydroelectric generation plant whereby little or no water storage is provided. Run-of-the-river power plants may have no water storage at all or a limited amount of storage, in which case the storage reservoir is referred to as pondage. A plant without pondage is subject to seasonal river flows, thus the plant will operate as an intermittent energy source. Conventional hydro uses reservoirs, which regulate water for flood control, dispatchable electrical power, and the provision of fresh water for agriculture.
Beauharnois is a city located in the Beauharnois-Salaberry Regional County Municipality of southwestern Quebec, Canada, and is part of the Greater Montreal Area. The city's population as of the Canada 2011 Census was 12,011. It is home to the Beauharnois Hydroelectric Power Station, as well as the Beauharnois Lock of the Saint Lawrence Seaway.
The Soulanges Canal is an abandoned shipping canal in Quebec, Canada. It follows the north shore of the Saint Lawrence River between Pointe-des-Cascades and Coteaux-Landing, bypassing the rapids between Lake Saint-Louis and Lake Saint-Francis. In between, it passes through the towns of Les Cèdres and Coteau-du-Lac. It superseded the first Beauharnois Canal which was on the south shore of the Saint Lawrence. It is 23 kilometers (14 mi) long and had a 4.3-meter (14.1 ft) draught. Five locks measuring 85.3 m × 14 m give a total rise of 25 meters (82 ft).
According to the International Hydropower Association, Canada is the world's fourth largest producer of hydroelectricity in the world in 2020 after the United States, Brazil, and China. In 2014, Canada consumed the equivalent of 85.7 megatonnes worth of oil of hydroelectricity, 9.8% of worldwide hydroelectric consumption. Furthermore, hydroelectricity accounted for 25.7% of Canada's total energy consumption. It is the third-most consumed energy in Canada behind oil and natural gas.
Hydro-Québec is a government-owned public utility established in 1944 by the Government of Quebec. The company is in charge of the generation, transmission and distribution of electricity across Quebec. Its head office is located in Montreal.
The Bersimis-1 generating station is a dam and a hydroelectric power station built by Hydro-Québec in conjunction with Perini, Atlas and Cartier construction companies on the Betsiamites River, in Lac-au-Brochet, 85 km (53 mi) north of the town of Forestville, Quebec. Construction started in 1953 and the power station was commissioned in 1956 with an initial nameplate capacity of 912 megawatts.
The Bersimis-2 generating station is a dam and a run-of-the-river hydroelectric power station built by Hydro-Québec on the Betsiamites River, in Lac-au-Brochet, 66 km (41 mi) north of the town of Forestville, Quebec. Construction started in 1956 and the power station was commissioned in 1959 with an initial nameplate capacity of 655 megawatts.
The history of electricity sector in Canada has played a significant role in the economic and political life of the country since wide-scale industrial and commercial power services spread across the country in the 1880s. The development of hydropower in the early 20th century has profoundly affected the economy and the political life in Canada and has come to symbolize the transition from "old " industrialism of the 19th century to a "new", modern and diversified, Canadian economy.
The Moses-Saunders Power Dam, short for Robert Moses-Robert H. Saunders Power Dam, is a dam on the Saint Lawrence River straddling the border between the United States and Canada. It is located between Massena in New York and Cornwall in Ontario. The dam supplies water to two adjacent hydroelectric power generating stations, the United States' 912 MW St. Lawrence-Franklin D. Roosevelt Power Project and Canada's 1,045 MW R.H. Saunders Generating Station. Constructed between 1954 and 1958 as part of the larger Saint Lawrence Seaway project, the dam created Lake St. Lawrence. Aside from providing significant amounts of renewable power, the dam regulates the St. Lawrence River and affords passage for the navigation of large vessels. Despite the enormous economic advantages to the dam, it required the relocation of 6,500 people and caused harm to the surrounding environment. Positive efforts have been made over the years to improve shoreline and fish habitats.
The Tracy Thermal Generating Station is a retired 660-megawatt heavy fuel oil-fueled thermal power station built from 1962 by the Shawinigan Water & Power Company and completed by Hydro-Québec after the buyout of all private electric utilities by the government of Quebec in 1963. Commissioned between 1964 and 1968, the plant is located on the banks of the Saint Lawrence River in the city of Sorel-Tracy, in the Montérégie Region.
The Rapide-Blanc generating station is a hydroelectric facility, comprising a reservoir, a dam and a hydroelectric plant. It is located on the Saint-Maurice River about sixty kilometres (37 mi) north of the city of La Tuque, in Quebec, in Canada. Built between 1930 and 1934 by the Shawinigan Water & Power Company (SWPC), it is the third hydroelectric facility on this river. The plant has been operated by Hydro-Québec since it was acquired from the SWPC in 1963, as part of the nationalisation of electric power companies in Quebec. The plant has a rated power of 204 megawatts (274,000 hp).
The Saint-Louis river is a tributary of the south shore of the Saint Lawrence River. This river flows through the municipalities of Sainte-Barbe, Saint-Stanislas-de-Kostka, Saint-Louis-de-Gonzague, Saint-Étienne-de-Beauharnois and Beauharnois, in the Beauharnois-Salaberry Regional County Municipality, in the administrative region of Montérégie, in the Southwest of province of Quebec, in Canada.
The Beauharnois-Salaberry Regional Park is a regional park located in the Beauharnois-Salaberry Regional County Municipality, in administrative region of Montérégie, in Quebec, in Canada.
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