The effects of dams and hydroelectric facilities on fish populations and fisheries have been well documented over the past century and include the loss or serious decline of many iconic fish species, which are resources of importance to Ontario’s economy, biodiversity, and natural and cultural heritage.
Since 1963 the Little Long Generating Complex on the Lower Mattagami River in Northern Ontario has been the source of an environmental crisis of immeasurable proportions. Thousands of Lake Sturgeon have been entrained through spillway gates and left stranded waiting to be captured and relocated back to their adopted man-made habitat, leaving waters not fit for survival. Adam Creek Spillway is well known province-wide as a thorn in hydro electric energy and should not be defined or qualified as GREEN energy.
The Lower Mattagami Project is a hydroelectric project that includes the construction of a three-unit facility at Smoky Falls Generating Station site.
Existing Facility
Smoky Falls has been in-service since 1926. Minor concrete repair was made to the existing concrete dam during the construction of the new generating facility. The generating units at the existing facility will be decommissioned once construction of the adjacent new facility is complete. All civil structures, including the spillway and earth-filed dykes shall be retained. The powerhouse and gravity dam will remain as a water retaining structure.
Redevelopment
The new construction includes three vertical propeller turbine-generator set, penstocks and draft tubes, and three new three-phase transformers. These new generating units have an installed capacity of approximately 267.9 MW at a head of 34.8 metres.
A new remotely controlled sluicegate is installed to replace the existing #3 sluicegate.
Water from the Mattagami River is conveyed from the intake structure to the powerhouse via penstocks, where each penstock supplies one generating unit.
Water from the Smoky Falls GS is returned to the Mattagami River via a 400 metres long tailrace canal that converges with the diversion spillway and the tailrace for the old original Smoky Falls generating station.
The new Smoky Falls GS dam, spanning 200 metres in length, is made of concrete. The concrete structure includes headworks and the powerhouse section in the river channel, from which gravity sections extend to the earth dam on the west bank, then on to the old original Smoky Falls generating station gravity dam, and then to a 381 metres long spillway structure on the east bank.
Located 85 km north of Kapuskasing, Ontario, and just east of the old original Smoky Falls generating station, the facility is operated remotely from OPG’s Northeast Control Centre located at the Porcupine Transformer Station in Timmins, Ontario. The new generating units will be connected to Hydro One’s 230kV L20D and H22D circuit.
Location: Harmon Township, Ontario
River System: Mattagami River
Nameplate Capacity: 267.9 MW
OPA Contracted Capacity: 267.9 MW
Operator: Ontario Power Generation
Technology: Hydroelectric
Turbines: Three vertical propeller turbines
Originally Built: 1926
Coordinate: 50° 00’ 17” N, 82° 09’ 55” W
Project Progress (December 31, 2013)
Ontario Power Generation Inc.
Yellow Falls
Yellow Falls Generating Station (formerly Island Falls) is a 2-unit “run-of-river” hydroelectric generating facility being developed by Boralex with a nameplate capacity of 16 megawatts (MW) located on the Mattagami River, approximately 18 km south of the town of Smooth Rock Falls, Ontario.
The intake and powerhouse that will house the two 8-MW turbine-generator units will be combined in a close-coupled arrangement near the west bank of the river. A spillway equipped with three vertical-lift, fixed roller gates and one set of stop logs will be built adjacent to the powerhouse.
Two sections of dam, one on the east side of the powerhouse and one on the west, at approximately 15 metres high will be built. A substation that steps up the generation to 115 kilovolt (kV) will be built at the end of the westerly dam. Approximately 21 kilometres of 115 kV overhead transmission line that mainly routes along Red Pine Road will be installed to connect the generating facility to existing Hydro One 115 kV circuit H9K.
As part of the project, approximately 14 kilometres of existing access road will be upgraded, and 7 km of new road will be built along with two new bridge installations. The gross head of the facility will be approximately 15 metres. The total discharge of the plant at capacity is approximately 160 cubic metres per second.
It is estimated that this facility will be capable of producing 87,000 megawatt-hours of renewable energy annually; enough electricity to power approximately 12,000 average Ontario homes.
Location: Smooth Rock Falls, Ontario
River System: Mattagami River
Nameplate Capacity: 16.0 MW
OPA Contracted Capacity: 16.0 MW
Developer: Boralex
Technology: Run-of-the-river, hydroelectric
Turbines: Two 8-MW turbine-generator units
Target Commercial Operation Date: Q3 2016
Project Progress as of December 31, 2013
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The Lower Mattagami Project is a hydroelectric project that includes the addition of a new third generating unit to the existing two-unit Little Long Generating Station.
Existing Facility
The existing Little Long facility includes two vertical propeller turbine-generator sets, penstocks and draft tubes, and three existing single-phase transformers. Little Long has been in-service since the mid-1960’s.
Located 80 km north of Kapuskasing, Ontario, the facility is operated remotely from OPG’s Northeast Control Centre located at the Porcupine Transformer Station in Timmins, Ontario.
Expansion
The expansion includes one vertical propeller turbine-generator set, penstocks and draft tubes, and one new three-phase transformer. The addition of the new generating unit adds 66.5 MW to the existing capacity for a total site capacity of 203.5 MW at a head of 26.5 metres.
As part of the expansion, a tailrace gate hoisting system is installed on the existing powerhouse tailrace deck, extending over the new tailrace deck of the powerhouse extension.
Water from the Mattagami River is conveyed from the existing Little Long GS intake structure for the third generator unit to the new spiral case via a concrete encased steel penstock.
Water from the new generating unit is returned to the Mattagami River via the existing 800 metres long tailrace canal.
The new generating unit is installed at the existing concrete structure. All three generating units share the same gravity dam and powerhouse.
The new generating unit is connected to Hydro One’s 230kV H22D circuit at the Little Long GS switchyard.
Location: Mowbray Township, Ontario
River System: Mattagami River
Nameplate Capacity: 203.5 MW
OPA Contracted Capacity: 203.5 MW
Operator: Ontario Power Generation
Technology: Hydroelectric
Turbines: Three vertical propeller turbines
Originally Built: Mid-1960’s
Coordinate: 50° 00’ 17” N, 82° 09’ 55” W
Project Progress (December 31, 2013)
Ontario Power Generation Inc.
The Lower Mattagami Project is a hydroelectric project that includes the addition of a new third generating unit to the existing two-unit Kipling Generating Station.
Existing Facility
The existing Kipling facility includes two vertical propeller turbine-generator sets, penstocks and draft tubes, and three existing single-phase transformers. Little Long has been in-service since the mid-1960’s.
Located 95 km north of Kapuskasing, Ontario, the facility is operated remotely from OPG’s Northeast Control Centre located at the Porcupine Transformer Station in Timmins, Ontario.
Expansion
The expansion includes one vertical propeller turbine-generator set, penstocks and draft tubes, and one new three-phase transformer. The addition of the new generating unit adds 78.3 MW to the existing capacity for a total site capacity of 233.3 MW at a head of 30.5 metres.
As part of the expansion, a tailrace gate hoisting system is installed on the existing powerhouse tailrace deck, extending over the new tailrace deck of the powerhouse extension.
Water from the Mattagami River is conveyed from the existing Kipling GS intake structure for the third generator unit to the new spiral case via a concrete encased steel penstock. The new generating unit is installed at the existing concrete structure. All three generating units share the same gravity dam and powerhouse. The new generating unit is connected to Hydro One’s 230kV L20D circuit.
Location: Harmon Township
River System: Mattagami River
Nameplate Capacity: 233.3 MW
OPA Contracted Capacity: 233.3 MW
Operator: Ontario Power Generation
Technology: Hydroelectric
Turbines: Three vertical propeller turbines
Originally Built: Mid-1960’s
Coordinate: 50° 08’ 55” N, 82° 12’ 34” W
Project Progress (December 31, 2013)
Ontario Power Generation Inc.
The Lower Mattagami Project is a hydroelectric project that includes the addition of a new third generating unit to the existing two-unit Harmon Generating Station.
Existing Facility
The existing Harmon facility includes two vertical propeller turbine-generator sets, penstocks and draft tubes, and three existing single-phase transformers. Harmon has been in-service since the mid-1960’s.
Located 90 km north of Kapuskasing, Ontario, the facility is operated remotely from OPG’s Northeast Control Centre located at the Porcupine Transformer Station in Timmins, Ontario.
Expansion
The expansion includes one vertical propeller turbine-generator set, penstocks and draft tubes, and one new three-phase transformer. The addition of the new generating unit adds 78.3 MW to the existing capacity for a total site capacity of 219.3 MW at a head of 31.1 metres. Continue reading
TIMMINS – Call it the Timmins version of Jurassic Park.
An ancient creature that once lived alongside the dinosaurs is slowly returning to the Mattagami River, an area where it once thrived.
A century ago, when settlers first set up shop in what became the Porcupine mining camp, lake sturgeon measuring up to six feet and living over 100 years were not uncommon in the area.
But due to increased industrial activity, overfishing and a general lack of knowledge on the subject, the once-thriving local population of the fish nearly disappeared.
Recently, lake sturgeon in the entire southern Hudson Bay drainage basin have been designated as a species of “special concern.”
In 2002, various local community and conservation groups concerned about the giant fish’s endangered status and apparent disappearance from the region put their minds together and started the Mattagami Sturgeon Restoration Project.
This beautiful waterfall is destined to be replaced with a hydroelectric dam.
