| Corra Linn Dam | |
|---|---|
 View of Corra Linn Dam, 2014. | |
| Opening date | 1932 [1] |
| Operator(s) | FortisBC [1] |
| Dam and spillways | |
| Impounds | Kootenay River |
| Height | 16m |
| Reservoir | |
| Creates | Kootenay Lake |
Corra Linn Dam is a concrete hydroelectric dam on the Kootenay River between the cities of Castlegar and Nelson, in the West Kootenay region of southern British Columbia.
The Corra Linn Rapids, named after the Falls of Clyde upper falls of Cora Linn, [2] preceded the dam at this location. [3]
The adjacent former train station and neighbourhood were named after the rapids, [4] but the locality has been frequently misspelled as Corra Lynn. [2]
For the six-year period after the 1932 opening, the dam was not permitted to raise the level of Kootenay Lake. It operated as a run-of-the-river hydroelectricity plant allowing the spring freshet to pass downstream. After devastating floods to Idaho farmlands in 1938, the International Joint Commission granted two approvals.
The first allowed excavation to the outlet of the lake at Grohman Narrows. In 1939, 255,809 cubic metres (334,585 cu yd) of gravel and 13,706 cubic metres (17,927 cu yd) of rock were removed, which included rock bluffs on the south side of the river. [5] The narrows was made deeper and wider, allowing for a greater drawdown of the lake during the winter and a greater flow during spring freshet. Even after excavation, Grohman Narrows continued to limit outflow. During the 1961 flood, the level of the lake was 3 metres (10 ft) above the maximum level of the dam, owing to water held back at the narrows. [6] [7] Models indicate the lake would have been almost 2 metres (7 ft) higher without the excavation. Between 2005 and 2010 BC Hydro considered more excavation at the narrows as a potential "Resource Smart" project. [8]
The second approval permitted the dam to be used to raise the level of Kootenay Lake by 2 metres, thus forming a reservoir for flood control and hydro power. [9] [10]
The dam's powerplant has a generating capacity of 51 MW. [1] In 2003, FortisBC bought the dam formerly owned by West Kootenay Power.
After the 1948 Vanport Oregon flood, the 1961 Columbia River Treaty led to the construction of the flood control Duncan Dam in 1967, and Libby Dam in 1975, which regulated water flowing into Kootenay Lake.
Most outflow is diverted 4.5 kilometres (2.8 mi) past Corra Linn along the Kootenay Canal to the more efficient generating station opened in 1976. Kootenay basin reservoirs provide nearly 7,000,000 acre-feet (8.6 km3) of storage which constitutes almost half of the 15,500,000 acre-feet (19.1 km3) stored in Columbia River Treaty reservoirs. [11]
The W. A. C. Bennett Dam is a large hydroelectric dam on the Peace River in northern British Columbia, Canada. At 186 metres (610 ft) high, it is one of the world's highest earth fill dams. Construction of the dam began in 1961 and culminated in 1968. At the dam, the Finlay, the Parsnip and the Peace rivers feed into Williston Lake, also referred to as Williston Reservoir. It is the third largest artificial lake in North America as well as the largest body of fresh water in British Columbia. Williston Lake runs 250 kilometres north–south and 150 kilometres east–west.
The British Columbia Hydro and Power Authority, operating as BC Hydro, is a Canadian electric utility in the province of British Columbia. It is the main electricity distributor, serving more than 4 million customers in most areas, with the exception of the City of New Westminster, where the city runs its own electrical department and portions of the West Kootenay, Okanagan, the Boundary Country and Similkameen regions, where FortisBC, a subsidiary of Fortis Inc. directly provides electric service to 213,000 customers and supplies municipally owned utilities in the same area. As a provincial Crown corporation, BC Hydro reports to the BC Ministry of Energy, Mines and Low Carbon Innovation, and is regulated by the British Columbia Utilities Commission (BCUC). Its mandate is to generate, purchase, distribute and sell electricity.
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Kootenay Lake is a lake located in British Columbia, Canada. It is part of the Kootenay River. The lake has been raised by the Corra Linn Dam and has a dike system at the southern end, which, along with industry in the 1950s–70s, has changed the ecosystem in and around the water. The Kootenay Lake ferry is a year-round toll-free ferry that crosses between Kootenay Bay and Balfour. The lake is a popular summer tourist destination.
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The Nechako Reservoir, sometimes called the Ootsa Lake Reservoir, is a hydroelectric reservoir in British Columbia, Canada that was formed by the Kenney Dam making a diversion of the Nechako River through a 16-km intake tunnel in the Kitimat Ranges of the Coast Mountains to the 890 MW Kemano Generating Station at sea level at Kemano to service the then-new Alcan aluminum smelter at Kitimat. When it was constructed on the Nechako River in 1952, it resulted in the relocation of over 75 families. It was one of the biggest reservoirs built in Canada until the completion of the Columbia Treaty Dams and the W.A.C. Bennett Dam that created Lake Williston. The water level may swing 10 feet between 2790 and 2800 feet.
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According to the International Hydropower Association, Canada is the fourth largest producer of hydroelectricity in the world in 2021 after the United States, Brazil, and China. In 2019, Canada produced 632.2 TWh of electricity with 60% of energy coming from Hydroelectric and Tidal Energy Sources).
Duncan Dam is a dam spanning the Duncan River in the Canadian province of British Columbia.
The Baillie-Grohman Canal was a shipping canal between the headwaters of the Columbia River and the upper Kootenay River in the East Kootenay region of British Columbia at a place now known as Canal Flats, BC. The construction of the canal was required by the provincial government of British Columbia as a condition of the canal's promoter receiving substantial land concessions from the provincial government of British Columbia in the area of Creston, BC. The promoter, William Adolf Baillie-Grohman (1851–1921), was a wealthy adventurer, hunter author, and business promoter. He declared the canal to be complete in 1889. The canal was an expensive failure, being used only three times during its entire existence. In 1902, on the last use by a vessel, the sternwheeler North Star, the sternwheeler's captain, Frank P. Armstrong deliberately blew out the canal's lower lock gates with dynamite to allow the transit of his vessel.
Bonnington Falls were waterfalls submerged by dams on the Kootenay River between the cities of Castlegar and Nelson, in the West Kootenay region of southern British Columbia. The upper falls was named after the Falls of Clyde upper falls of Bonnington Linn.
The Kootenay Canal is a hydroelectric power station, located 19 km downstream of Nelson, British Columbia, Canada. Where the Kootenay River flows out of the reservoir formed by the Corra Linn Dam on Kootenay Lake., a canal diverts water to BC Hydro's Kootenay Canal Generating Station. Its construction was a result of the Duncan Dam and Libby Dam providing year round flows into Kootenay Lake. The powerhouse was completed in 1976.
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