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BC Hydro’s Site C project—its third dam and hydroelectric generating station on the Peace River in northeast British Columbia— will generate enough energy to power about 450,000 homes or 1.7 million electric vehicles per year when it comes on-line in 2025. The Peace River already has two large hydroelectric facilities (W.A.C. Bennett Dam and Peace Canyon Dam) that rely primarily on the Williston Reservoir for water storage. As the third project on the Peace River, Site C will rely on water already stored in the Williston Reservoir. This means that Site C will 3
generate about 35 per cent of the energy produced at W.A.C. Bennett Dam, with only five per cent of the reservoir area. Construction on Site C began in July, 2015. The project is about 80 per cent complete and remains on-track to have all six generating units in-service by 2025, Greg Alexis, Manager of Public Affairs & Community Relations, Site C, tells Business Elite Canada. “In July, 2023, we announced the completion of the earthfill dam,” says Alexis. “The earthfill dam stands about 60 metres tall (the height of a 20-storey building), stretches more than one kilometre across the Peace River and is about 500 metres wide at its base. In total, about 16 million cubic metres of earthfill material was placed, enough to fill the Great Pyramid of Giza six times.” The completion of the earthfill dam is one of the essential milestones required before BC Hydro can begin filling the Site C reservoir. “While we are aiming to begin filling the reservoir later this fall, there are still a number of key areas that need to be completed first: approach channel, spillways, tailrace The dam at its completed height. 22 storeys high or 60 metres above bedrock. 4
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area, dam intake structures and certain components of the powerhouse,” says Alexis. Filling the reservoir is one of the last steps in building Site C, as it allows the generating station, spillways, turbines and generators to be put into operation. The reservoir will be more than 80 kilometres long and cover 5,550 hectares of land, with a total surface area of about 9,330 hectares. It will take about four months to fill the Site C reservoir. Once the Site C project is complete in 2025, it will provide British Columbia with 1,100 megawatts of firm capacity and produce about 5,100 gigawatt hours of clean electricity each year. Downstream view of the approach channel where water flows from the re TAKING ACTION FOR CLIENTS AND CONTRACTORS! CMAW Canada was established in 2004 when the BC Carpenters Union separated from their American parent to better represent their local members. It is currently the fastest-growing Construction Labour union in Canada, with a growing membership that includes scaffolders, electricians, carpenters, pipefitters, welders, and professionals from various other trades. The commitment to self-determination is evident in how CMAW collaborates with clients and contractors, ensuring that they form strong partnerships with one another and with other industry stakeholders. CMAW’s top priority is to guarantee that your projects consistently employ the best-trained, most skilled, and safest workforces in Canada, day in and day out. CMAW’s dispatch system is state-of-the-art, capable of swiftly and efficiently mobilizing workers to your projects, giving you the competitive advantage necessary to ensure that your projects are completed on time and within budget. CMAW boasts one of the deepest and most extensive labour pools in the industry. Whether you require scaffolders, carpenters, pipefitters, welders, electricians, or labourers, CMAW can provide them to you more rapidly and accurately than any other industry entity. Considering that the industry currently faces a significant labour shortage that is expected to persist for years, why not tap into a labour pool that you might not have been aware of? By establishing a partnership with CMAW, you can gain a competitive edge and ensure that you outperform the competition and successfully deliver your projects. 6
REEL COH Proud Supplier of the Powerhouse, Intake & Tailrace Gantry Cranes for the BC Hydro Site C Clean Energy Project 800 363-6501 450 430-6500 www.reel-coh.com sales@reelcoh.com ISO 9001:2015 ISO 9001:2015 Penstock units 6 through to one eservoir into the intakes. 7
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10 Turbine unit 1 – inside the nearly completed turbine pit The Halfway River highway 29 realignment is 3 kilometres. The bridge is 1 kilometre long.
11 THE CLEAN BC PLAN An astounding 98 per cent of energy generated by BC Hydro is clean energy. At the core of the province’s clean energy strategy is reducing fossil-fuel consumption, increasing new biofuel consumption, and shifting to using more clean B.C. electricity. Specifically, by 2030, the policies in this strategy will require an additional 4,000 gigawatt-hours of electricity over and above currently projected demand growth to electrify key segments of our economy. This is equivalent to increasing BC Hydro’s current system-wide capacity by about 8 per cent, or about the demand of the City of Vancouver.
12 Unit 1 – turbine guide bearing assembly Unit 4 – the spiral case bulkhead left and the end of the penstock right Turbine units 1 through 6 Turbine unit 3 – stator wind
13 To meet this requirement means harnessing B.C.’s vast wealth of clean, renewable power—something that BC Hydro plays a large role in. “Site C also plays a key role in British Columbia’s CleanBC plan to lower climatechanging emissions by displacing higher carbon fuel sources with clean electricity,” says Alexis. “About 98 per cent of the power BC Hydro generates comes from clean or renewable resources and most of that is powered by water, making British Columbia a leader in clean electricity generation in western North America.” For more information, please visit www.sitecproject.com ding and turbine shaft
As seen in BusinessEliteCanada.com www.sitecproject.com
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