History of electricity sector in Canada

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The 1911 Stave Falls powerhouse in British Columbia. BC Hydro Stave Falls-1.jpg
The 1911 Stave Falls powerhouse in British Columbia.

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. [1] 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. [2]

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As early as 1873, an electric arc light was demonstrated in Winnipeg Manitoba. [3] But Canada's use of electricity as mass-market service began in earnest in 1881, when Ottawa entrepreneur Thomas Ahearn installed Canada's first water-powered generator at the Chaudiere Falls, [4] and later that year a steam generator lit a public skating rink in downtown Toronto. [1] By 1883, the Houses of Parliament and Toronto's Central National Exhibition were illuminated by electric lights. [5] And by 1885, public street lighting had been introduced in many Canadian Cities, including Hamilton, Quebec, Montreal, and Ottawa - which became the first city in the world to electrically light all of its streets. [4]

In the 1890s, three competing firms in Ontario engaged in a competition to develop the Canadian side of Niagara Falls. [6] After several years of delays, construction began on the two sites in 1902 and on a third in 1904. At the same time, a group of municipalities in southern Ontario set up utilities joined their efforts to obtain a stable supply of hydropower. Despite his initial reluctance, Ontario Premier George William Ross organized the Ontario Power Commission in 1903 to coordinate efforts.

After the private companies refused to negotiate power deals, the government responded by setting up an enquiry headed by Adam Beck, who recommended the establishment of a publicly owned distribution system. The province established the Hydro Electric Commission of Ontario in 1906 and voters approved municipalization of power distribution a year later. The Commission began delivering power to cities and towns in October 1910. [7] By World War I, 59,000 customers were connected to the grid in Ontario. [8]

In Manitoba and British Columbia, private companies were also quick to develop hydropower. The Nelson Electric Light Company was the first company to build a hydro site in British Columbia. February 1, 1896 it commenced operation producing power for the City of Nelson. The Sandon plant was second in March 1897. [9] In Winnipeg, railroad tycoon William Mackenzie built the first plant built on the Winnipeg River to supply the Ogilvie mill. Mackenzie soon faced competition from the city of Winnipeg, after voters backed the construction of a $3.25 million publicly funded dam on the Winnipeg River in 1906. [10]

State control and rural electrification

Construction of the first phase of the Beauharnois generating station, in 1930. Beauharnois Construction Co - Turbines.jpg
Construction of the first phase of the Beauharnois generating station, in 1930.
A 1946 postage stamp, featuring hydroelectricity. TimbrePosteCanada14centsCentraleHydroelectrique1946.jpg
A 1946 postage stamp, featuring hydroelectricity.

Development of the electric sector accelerated after the First World War with the creation of provincial utilities in Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Manitoba, Saskatchewan and British Columbia, in the 1920s. Publicly owned electric companies put a strong focus on rural electrification and hydroelectric development.

The Quebec government was a latecomer as far as its involvement in the electricity sector is concerned. After an anarchic period, the industry consolidated into a duopoly of investor-owned utilities. In Quebec's largest city, Montreal Light, Heat & Power (MLH&P) became the dominant player through mergers with competitors. [11]

In the rest of the province, Shawinigan Water & Power Company (SW&P) attracted large industrial customers, aluminium smelters, carbide plants and pulp and paper mills, with an hydroelectric complex built on the Saint-Maurice River. In 1930, SW&P had grown to become the leading power company in Quebec, and one of the largest hydroelectric companies in the world. [12]

Calls for nationalization of the industry began during the Great Depression, after a political scandal surrounded the construction of the Beauharnois Hydroelectric Power Station, on the Saint Lawrence River, west of Montreal. [13] Critics attacked the "electricity trust" for their abusive rates and excessive profits. The campaign, masterminded by Philippe Hamel and T.-D. Bouchard, led to the nationalization of MLH&P and the creation of Hydro-Québec by the liberal government of Adélard Godbout in 1944. [14] The other electric companies were taken over by Hydro-Québec in 1963, following a snap election on the issue of electricity spearheaded by René Lévesque, the provincial minister in charge of Natural Resources in the Jean Lesage government. [15]

Hydroelectric developments

The Hugh Keenleyside Dam was built in the 1960s to fulfil Canada's obligations under the Columbia River Treaty. A 185-MW generating station was added in 2002. Arrow Lakes Generating Station, British Columbia, Canada.jpg
The Hugh Keenleyside Dam was built in the 1960s to fulfil Canada's obligations under the Columbia River Treaty. A 185-MW generating station was added in 2002.
Hydro-Quebec's Daniel-Johnson Dam (1968) is the largest multiple-arch buttress dam in the world. Manicouagan Barrage.jpg
Hydro-Québec's Daniel-Johnson Dam (1968) is the largest multiple-arch buttress dam in the world.

Under government leadership, provincial power companies invested heavily in the power sector to stimulate economic development. Premiers Joey Smallwood in Newfoundland, W. A. C. Bennett in British Columbia, Ed Schreyer in Manitoba and Robert Bourassa in Quebec shared this vision of hydropower as a major part of their provinces' industrial development policies. [16]

Hydroelectric mega-projects were undertaken by most provinces during the 1960s and 1970s. BC Hydro developed power stations along the Peace and Columbia Rivers. Manitoba Hydro undertook the Nelson River Hydroelectric Project. In Labrador, the controversial Churchill Falls Generating Station was built after 20 years of negotiations, and NB Power undertook the construction of the Mactaquac Dam, near Fredericton. [17]

But hydroelectric development was most active in Quebec. Between 1965 and 1984, Hydro-Québec built 7 large power stations on the Manicouagan and Outardes rivers and the first 3 plants of the 16,000-MW James Bay Project on La Grande River. The 5 plants of the second phase were built between 1987 and 1996.

But ample supply and increased opposition to large hydroelectric projects by environmentalists and First Nations forced the postponement or cancellation of several proposed developments during the 1980s and 1990s, such as the Site C dam [18] on the Peace River in British Columbia or the Great Whale project in Quebec. [19]

Nuclear energy

Chalk River Laboratories, on the Ottawa River, in Chalk River, Ontario. Chalk River Laboratories.jpg
Chalk River Laboratories, on the Ottawa River, in Chalk River, Ontario.
The Pickering Nuclear Generating Station became operational in 1971. Pickering Nuclear Plant.jpg
The Pickering Nuclear Generating Station became operational in 1971.

Canada has a long and storied nuclear history. The area of Great Bear Lake has provided uranium for the Manhattan Project and the first Canadian nuclear reactor, the ZEEP, was built in 1945. Two years later, the National Research Council of Canada began operations on the NRX (National Research Experimental) heavy-water reactor at Chalk River Laboratories, near Ottawa. In 1957, it was followed by the National Research Universal Reactor (NRU).

In the meantime, Ontario Hydro, Canadian General Electric and Atomic Energy of Canada Limited began working on an experimental nuclear power plant, the Nuclear Power Demonstration, in Rolphton, Ontario, not far from Chalk River. The 22 MW reactor generated Canada's first nuclear energy to the grid on June 4, 1962. [21]

The first full-scale nuclear power plant, the Douglas Point Nuclear Generating Station, entered commercial service on September 26, 1968. Douglas Point generated 220 MW and was built for $91 million. The CANDU reactor was then built at three locations in Ontario in the next 25 years, in Pickering, Bruce County and Clarington.

Of the 20 nuclear reactors operational in Canada, only two are located outside Ontario: Gentilly-2, near Trois-Rivières, Quebec, and Point Lepreau, west of Saint John, New Brunswick. Both became operational in 1983.

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CANDU reactor Canadian heavy water nuclear reactor design

The CANDU is a Canadian pressurized heavy-water reactor design used to generate electric power. The acronym refers to its deuterium oxide moderator and its use of uranium fuel. CANDU reactors were first developed in the late 1950s and 1960s by a partnership between Atomic Energy of Canada Limited (AECL), the Hydro-Electric Power Commission of Ontario, Canadian General Electric, and other companies.

Hydro-Québec Canadian hydroelectric utility

Hydro-Québec is a public utility that manages the generation, transmission and distribution of electricity in the Canadian province of Quebec, as well as the export of power to portions of the Northeast United States.

Ontario Hydro Defunct Canadian provincial utility corporation, 1906–2015

Ontario Hydro, established in 1906 as the Hydro-Electric Power Commission of Ontario, was a publicly owned electricity utility in the Province of Ontario. It was formed to build transmission lines to supply municipal utilities with electricity generated by private companies already operating at Niagara Falls, and soon developed its own generation resources by buying private generation stations and becoming a major designer and builder of new stations. As most of the readily developed hydroelectric sites became exploited, the corporation expanded into building coal-fired generation and then nuclear-powered facilities. Renamed as "Ontario Hydro" in 1974, by the 1990s it had become one of the largest, fully integrated electricity corporations in North America.

Hydro from Ancient Greek word ὕδωρ (húdōr), meaning water.

James Bay Project

The James Bay Project refers to the construction of a series of hydroelectric power stations on the La Grande River in northwestern Quebec, Canada by state-owned utility Hydro-Québec, and the diversion of neighbouring rivers into the La Grande watershed. It is located between James Bay to the west and Labrador to the east, and its waters flow from the Laurentian Plateau of the Canadian Shield. The project covers an area the size of New York State and is one of the largest hydroelectric systems in the world. It has cost upwards of US$20 billion to build and has an installed generating capacity of 16,527 megawatts. If fully expanded to include all of the original planned dams, as well as the additional James Bay II projects, the system would generate a total of 27,000 MW, making it the largest hydroelectric system in the world. It has been built since 1974 by James Bay Energy (SDBJ) for Hydro-Québec.

Atomic Energy of Canada Limited (AECL) is a Canadian federal Crown corporation and Canada's largest nuclear science and technology laboratory. AECL developed the CANDU reactor technology starting in the 1950s, and in October 2011 licensed this technology to Candu Energy.

Manitoba Hydro Electric power and natural gas utility company in Manitoba, Canada

The Manitoba Hydro-Electric Board, operating as Manitoba Hydro, is the electric power and natural gas utility in the province of Manitoba, Canada. Founded in 1961, it is a provincial Crown Corporation, governed by the Manitoba Hydro-Electric Board and the Manitoba Hydro Act. Today the company operates 15 interconnected generating stations. It has more than 527,000 electric power customers and more than 263,000 natural gas customers. Since most of the electrical energy is provided by hydroelectric power, the utility has low electricity rates. Stations in Northern Manitoba are connected by a HVDC system, the Nelson River Bipole, to customers in the south. The internal staff are members of the Canadian Union of Public Employees Local 998 while the outside workers are members of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 2034.

Electricity sector in Canada

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Douglas Point Nuclear Generating Station

The Douglas Point Nuclear Generating Station was Canada’s first full-scale nuclear power plant and the second CANDU pressurised heavy water reactor. Its success was a major milestone and marked Canada's entry into the global nuclear power scene. The same site was later used for the Bruce Nuclear Generating Station, which was built just to the south of Douglas Point.

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Nelson River Hydroelectric Project

The Nelson River Hydroelectric Project refers to the construction of a series of dams and hydroelectric power plants on the Nelson River in Northern Manitoba, Canada. The project began to take shape in the late 1950s, with the planning and construction of the Kelsey dam and hydroelectric power station, and later was expanded to include the diversion of the upper Churchill River into the Nelson River and the transformation of Lake Winnipeg, the world's 11th largest freshwater lake, into a hydroelectric reservoir. The project is owned and operated by Manitoba Hydro, the electrical utility in the province.

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Canada has access to all main sources of energy including oil and gas, coal, hydropower, biomass, solar, geothermal, wind, marine and nuclear. It is the world's second largest producer of uranium, third largest producer of hydro-electricity, fourth largest natural gas producer, and the fifth largest producer of crude oil. In 2006, only Russia, the People's Republic of China, the United States and Saudi Arabia produce more total energy than Canada.

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 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.

Daniel-Johnson dam Dam in Quebec, Canada

The Daniel-Johnson dam, formerly known as Manic-5, is a multiple-arch buttress dam on the Manicouagan River that creates the annular Manicouagan Reservoir. The dam is composed of 14 buttresses and 13 arches and is 214 km (133 mi) north of Baie-Comeau in Quebec, Canada. The dam was constructed between 1959 and 1970 for the purpose of hydroelectric power production and supplies water to the Manic-5 and Manic-5-PA power houses with a combined capacity of 2,660 MW. The dam is 214 m (702 ft) tall, 1,314 m (4,311 ft) long and contains 2,200,000 m3 of concrete, making it the largest dam of its type in the world.

The McCormick generating station is a dam and power station built on the Manicouagan river by the Quebec & Ontario Paper Company and the Canadian British Aluminium Company 3 km (1.9 mi) west of Baie-Comeau, Quebec, Canada. It is named after colonel Robert R. McCormick (1880–1955), who owned and published the Chicago Tribune.

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.

Tracy Thermal Generating Station

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.

References

  1. 1 2 Electric power at The Canadian Encyclopedia, accessed September 1, 2019
  2. ↑ Norrie, Owram & Emery 2008 , p. 243
  3. ↑ "History of Electricity". Canadian Electricity Association. Retrieved 2020-06-07.
  4. 1 2 "Our History | Hydro Ottawa". HydroOttawa. Retrieved 2020-06-07.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  5. ↑ "History of Electricity". Canadian Electricity Association. Retrieved 2020-06-07.
  6. ↑ Oberhuber, dirigé par Olivier Asselin, Silvestra Mariniello, Andrea; Mariniello, Silvestra; Oberhuber, Andrea (2011). L'ère électrique = The electric age. [Ottawa]: Presses de l'Université d'Ottawa. p. 316. hdl:10393/31889. ISBN   978-2-7603-0704-9.
  7. ↑ Norrie, Owram & Emery 2008 , pp. 244–245
  8. ↑ Norrie, Owram & Emery 2008 , pp. 247
  9. ↑ "City of Nelson | History". Archived from the original on 2013-11-11. Retrieved 2013-11-11.
  10. ↑ Norrie, Owram & Emery 2008 , pp. 245
  11. ↑ Bolduc, Hogue & Larouche 1989 , pp. 39–43; see also Dales 1957 , pp. 101–108
  12. ↑ Dales 1957 , pp. 97–98
  13. ↑ Regehr 1990; Bolduc, Hogue & Larouche 1989 , p. 69
  14. ↑ Bolduc, Hogue & Larouche 1989 , pp. 72–77
  15. ↑ Bolduc, Hogue & Larouche 1989 , pp. 155–179
  16. ↑ Froschauer 1999 , p. 14
  17. ↑ NB Power (1990), The nineteen sixties - over a billion kilowatts generated (PDF), retrieved 2010-01-06
  18. ↑ Froschauer 1999 , pp. 196–197
  19. ↑ Froschauer 1999 , p. 77
  20. ↑ Ontario Power Generation, Pickering Nuclear, archived from the original on 2010-09-12, retrieved 2010-09-03
  21. ↑ CANDU Owner's Group, Highlights of CANDU History, archived from the original on 2012-02-25, retrieved 2010-10-01

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