Spruce Falls (Saskatchewan)

Last updated

Spruce Falls
Canada Saskatchewan relief location map.jpg
Red pog.svg
Location in Saskatchewan
Canada relief map 2.svg
Red pog.svg
Spruce Falls (Saskatchewan) (Canada)
Spruce Falls (Saskatchewan)
LocationSaskatchewan, Canada
Coordinates 55°36′04″N102°01′08″W / 55.6011°N 102.0189°W / 55.6011; -102.0189
Total height7.6 m (25 ft)
WatercourseSwan River

Spruce Falls was the local name for a small waterfall where the Swan River empties into Sisipuk Lake in north-eastern Saskatchewan, near the Manitoba border. In 1928, Spruce Falls became the site of a dam and temporary power plant supplying the Island Falls hydroelectric power development upstream on the Churchill River.

Contents

The Swan River, about 6 kilometres (3.7 mi) in length, is the outlet channel from Chicken Lake (also known as Barrier Lake) into Sisipuk Lake. Sisipuk Lake, also known as Duck Lake, is a large lake along the course of the Churchill River. Swan River has a drainage area of 1,800 square kilometres (700 sq mi) consisting of a number of lakes, chief among which are Chicken, Mari, and Kipahigan Lakes.

Spruce Falls and the Island Falls Power Development

A large amount of power is required for construction purposes on a job the size of the Island Falls development. As steam and gasoline units could be used only to a minor extent, owing to the high cost of transporting fuel, the only alternative was to find a site where hydroelectric energy could be generated. Engineers for the Churchill River Power Company determined that Spruce Falls, about 21.7 kilometres (13+12 mi) north-east of Island Falls, was suitable.

By utilizing the natural fall of 7.6 metres (25 ft) at Spruce Falls in addition to a 4.6-metre-high (15 ft) timber dam which impounded a small forebay, a head of 12 metres (40 ft) was developed. Water from the head pond was conveyed to generator turbines by two wood stave pipes 2.1 metres (7 ft) wide and 27 metres (90 ft) long.

The powerhouse

The Spruce Falls temporary powerhouse was a frame building on the shore of Sisipuk Lake. It contained two small generating units and complementary equipment. These two 930 kW (1,250 hp) vertical-type turbines, with propeller-type runners, were directly connected to 1,000 kV⋅A generators delivering power at 600 volts, 3 phase, 60 cycles to a bank of transformers.

The transformer bank was placed apart from the powerhouse and protected by a lightning arrester and fuses. Rated at 2,000 kV⋅A, these transformers stepped the voltage up to 26,400 volts for transmission to Island Falls. There, a sub-station stepped the current down to 600 volts for two motor-generator sets which supplied current for the electric locomotives used in hauling earth, concrete and other construction materials.

Completion of the project

Work on the temporary power plant was started on October 4, 1928. Its operation began on March 20, 1929, and continued without interruption until No. 1 Unit at Island Falls took up the load on June 5, 1930. Subsequently, the Spruce Falls plant was dismantled, and, under very difficult freighting conditions due to snow and weak ice, the two small generating units were brought to Island Falls, where they were permanently installed in 1933.

During the period of operation this plant supplied 4,698,000 kWh of electrical energy for construction purposes, at an average cost of 4.35 cents per kilowatt-hour.

Today, the dam at the site — known as Chicken Lake Dam — is owned and operated by the Saskatchewan Water Security Agency. [1]

See also

Notes

  1. ^ A dry season in 1929 resulted in low water level in 1930 and it became necessary to find additional sources of water in order to maintain the amount of power required for construction. The outlet of Chicken Lake was cut through, and its 140 square kilometres (55 sq mi) of water was lowered 1.8 metres (6 ft) in order to furnish enough power to complete the construction at Island Falls. After construction, the outlet was replaced by a faced, rock-filled, timber-crib weir, thus restoring Chicken Lake to its former elevation.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Itaipu Dam</span> Dam along the Brazil–Paraguay border

The Itaipu Dam is a hydroelectric dam on the Paraná River located on the border between Brazil and Paraguay. It is the third largest hydroelectric dam in the world, and holds the 45th largest reservoir in the world.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Underground power station</span>

An underground power station is a type of hydroelectric power station constructed by excavating the major components from rock, rather than the more common surface-based construction methods.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nalubaale Hydroelectric Power Station</span> Dam in Jinja

Nalubaale Power Station, formerly known as Owen Falls Dam, is a hydroelectric power station across the White Nile near its source at Lake Victoria in Uganda. Nalubaale is the Luganda name for Lake Victoria.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wivenhoe Power Station</span> Dam in Wivenhoe Pocket, Queensland

The Wivenhoe Power Station is situated between the Splityard Creek Dam and Lake Wivenhoe. The Splityard Creek Dam is situated in hills adjacent to Lake Wivenhoe and is about 100 metres (330 ft) above it. The power station is the only pumped storage hydroelectric plant in Queensland.

Topi is a town in the eastern part of the Swabi District of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan. The administrative division of Topi unfolds into two Union councils: Topi East and Topi West. Notably, the Tarbela Dam, largest earth-filled dam in the world, is located only 9 kilometres (5.6 mi) east of Topi.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Island Falls, Saskatchewan</span> Hydroelectric power station in Saskatchewan, Canada

Island Falls is a hydroelectric power station operated by SaskPower, a Saskatchewan crown corporation. It is located on the Churchill River, about 97 kilometres (60 mi) northwest of Flin Flon, Manitoba, Canada.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tumut Hydroelectric Power Station</span> Power stations in New South Wales, Australia

The Tumut Hydroelectric Power Stations is a series of three hydroelectric power stations on the Tumut River in New South Wales, Australia, that are part of the Snowy Mountains Scheme.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Haditha Dam</span> Dam in Al Anbar, Iraq

The Haditha Dam or Qadisiya Dam is an earth-fill dam on the Euphrates, north of Haditha (Iraq), creating Lake Qadisiyah. The dam is just over 9 kilometres (5.6 mi) long and 57 metres (187 ft) high. The purpose of the dam is to generate hydroelectricity, regulate the flow of the Euphrates and provide water for irrigation. It is the second-largest hydroelectric contributor to the power system in Iraq behind the Mosul Dam.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rubicon Hydroelectric Scheme</span> Hydroelectric scheme in Victoria, Australia

The Rubicon Hydroelectric Scheme is a small run-of-the-river hydroelectric scheme located on the Rubicon and Royston Rivers, north east of Melbourne, 40 km (25 mi) south-west of Alexandra, Victoria, Australia. The scheme commenced in 1922, and was the first state-owned hydroelectric scheme to generate electricity in mainland Australia, and among the first in the world to be remotely controlled. For the first ten years of its operation it supplied on average 16.9% of electricity generated by the State Electricity Commission of Victoria. It is now owned and operated by AGL Energy and contributes approximately 0.02% of Victoria's energy supply.

The Fisher Power Station is a conventional hydroelectric power station located in north-western Tasmania, Australia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Croton Dam (Michigan)</span> Dam in Newaygo County, Michigan

Croton Dam is an earth-filled embankment dam and powerplant complex on the Muskegon River in Croton Township, Newaygo County, Michigan. It was built in 1907 under the direction of William D. Fargo by the Grand Rapids - Muskegon Power Company, a predecessor of Consumers Energy. The 40-foot-high (12 m) dam impounds 7.2 billion U.S. gallons (6 billion imp. gal/27 billion L) of water in its 1,209-acre (489 ha) reservoir and is capable of producing 8,850 kilowatts at peak outflow. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1979.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Atiamuri Power Station</span> Hydroelectric power station on the Waikato River in New Zealand

Ātiamuri Power Station is a hydroelectric power station on the Waikato River, in the North Island of New Zealand. It is the third of eight hydroelectric power stations on the Waikato River. The station can easily be seen from State Highway 1 between Taupō and Tokoroa.

Maraetai Power Station is a hydroelectric power station on the Waikato River, in the North Island of New Zealand. It is the fifth of the eight hydroelectric power stations on the Waikato River, and at 360 MW, is the largest hydroelectric station on the Waikato.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yeywa Dam</span> Hydropower station in Myanmar

The Yeywa Hydropower Station, located on the Myitnge River, 52 kilometres (32 mi) southeast of Mandalay city, at Yeywa village in Kyaukse Township, Mandalay Region in central Myanmar, is the country's first roller-compacted concrete (RCC) dam, and the site of a 790-megawatt (1,060,000 hp) hydroelectric power plant, the largest in the country.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Paulo Afonso Hydroelectric Complex</span> Brazilian hydroelectric project

The Paulo Afonso Hydroelectric Complex, also known as the Paulo Afonso Complex, is a system of three dams and five hydroelectric power plants on the São Francisco River near the city of Paulo Afonso in Bahia, Brazil. The complex exploits an 80-metre (260 ft) natural gap on the river, known as the Paulo Afonso Falls. Constructed in succession between 1948 and 1979, the dams support the Paulo Afonso I, II, III, IV and Apollonius Sales (Moxotó) power plants which contain a total of 23 generators with an installed capacity of 4,279.6 megawatts (5,739,000 hp).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lake Cachí</span> Artificial reservoir in Costa Rica

Lake Cachi is an artificial lake in central Costa Rica created by the Cachí Dam, an arch dam north of Tapantí National Park, to the east-southeast of Cartago in Cartago Province. The main town is Cachí, away from the east bank of the lake. Built in the 1970s, it was one of the first hydroelectric projects in Costa Rica. It has an installed capacity of 102 MW with three units of 34 MW capacity each.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vianden Pumped Storage Plant</span> Dam in Vianden

The Vianden Pumped Storage Plant is located just north of Vianden in Diekirch District, Luxembourg. The power plant uses the pumped-storage hydroelectric method to generate electricity and serves as a peaking power plant. Its lower reservoir is located on the Our River, bordering Germany, and the upper is elevated above on the nearby Saint Nicholas Mountain. Construction on the plant began in 1959 and the first pump-generators were commissioned in 1962. A tenth pump-generator was installed in 1976 bringing the plant's installed generating capacity to 1,096 megawatts (1,470,000 hp). The plant generates an average of 1,650 gigawatt-hours (5,900 TJ) annually but of course consumes even more. Generally the efficiency of this energy storage method is around 70–80%. The plant is owned by Société électrique de l'Our and RWE. Construction on an eleventh pump-generator began in 2010 and it is expected to be commissioned in 2013, which will bring the plant's installed capacity to 1,296 megawatts (1,738,000 hp).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Long Spruce Generating Station</span>

Long Spruce Generating Station is a run-of-the-river hydroelectric dam on the Nelson River approximately 745 kilometres (463 mi) northeast of Winnipeg in the Canadian province of Manitoba.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">St. Margaret's Bay Hydroelectric System</span> Hydroelectric Generating System in Nova Scotia, Canada

The St. Margaret's Bay Hydroelectric System consists of three hydroelectric power plants and the related lake, dam, and river systems driving them. The system is situated within both Lunenburg County and the Halifax Regional Municipality, beginning approximately 2.5 km (1.6 mi) east of the Head of Saint Margarets Bay and approximately 10 km (6.2 mi) southwest of Hammonds Plains. The system is part of the East Indian River watershed and drains 271 square kilometres (105 sq mi), with water storage provided in Lunenburg County by Mill Lake, Coon Pond, Sandy Lake, Wrights Lake, Big Indian Lake, Five Mile Lake and, at times, an overflow from Pockwock Lake in the Halifax Regional Municipality. The system is owned and operated by Nova Scotia Power Inc.

Chicken Lake, also known as Barrier Lake, is a large, irregularly shaped lake in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan. The lake is within the Nelson–Churchill River basin, which is the third largest in North America. Chicken Lake's primary inflow is from a channel at its southern end connecting it to Kipahigan Lake. At the northern end, the lake is connected to Sisipuk Lake through the Swan River channel. Sisipuk Lake is a lake along the course of the Churchill River. Chicken Lake Dam is situated along Swan River connecting Chicken Lake to Sisipuk Lake. The Swan River, while only about 6 kilometres (3.7 mi) long, has a drainage basin of about 1,800 km2 (690 sq mi).

References

  1. "Dams and Reservoirs". wsask. Water Security Agency. January 27, 2021. Retrieved March 29, 2024.