Shawinigan Water and Power Company
The Shawinigan Water and Power Company (SW&P) was an electricity company in the Canadian province of Québec . Founded in 1889, the company developed into a major supplier of electricity from hydropower and played an important role in the industrial development of the Mauricie region . In 1963, SW&P was nationalized and merged with Hydro-Québec .
history
John Joyce, a Boston businessman , bought the water usage rights on the Rivière Saint-Maurice from the provincial government for $ 50,000 . He then founded the Shawinigan Water and Power Company on January 15, 1898 together with some partners. The most important contribution to the further development of the company was made by John Edward Aldred, who was the first treasurer until 1909 and then chairman until 1933. From the beginning, SW&P was on the lookout for industrial customers who would become large consumers. A contract signed with the Pittsburgh Reduction Company (now Alcoa ) in 1899 marked the beginning of the aluminum industry in Shawinigan . In the same year a contract followed with the founders of what would later become Union Carbide .
In 1902, electricity production began at the Shawinigan-1 power station. The SW&P aimed to deliver electricity as far as Montreal . To this end it established a 135-km long 50 kV - transmission line . The line, which went into operation in March 1903, was considered a technological masterpiece at the time, as it was 100 km longer than the longest in North America to date (between Niagara Falls and Buffalo ). With the advance into the Montreal market, SW&P initially came into conflict with Montreal Light, Heat and Power (MLH & P), which was about to establish an energy monopoly in the metropolitan area. In the end, both companies were able to come to an agreement, largely divided the electricity market in the province of Québec between themselves and subsequently formed a powerful duopoly with only a few independent providers.
SW&P gradually expanded its production facilities on the Rivière Saint-Maurice. In 1911 the Shawinigan-2 power plant went into operation, the oldest still existing plant on the river. The Grand-Mère power station followed in 1915. The 1302 km² Gouin reservoir was built between 1916 and 1918 to regulate the water flow to the power plants . The La Gabelle power plant was opened in 1924, the Rapide-Blanc power plant in 1934. La Tuque (1940), Shawinigan-3 (1948), Trenche (1950) and Beaumont (1958) followed.
After the nationalization of MLH & P and the establishment of Hydro-Québec in 1944, SW&P was by far the largest remaining privately owned electricity supplier in Québec. Finally, in 1963, the SW&P also became state-owned. With the exception of the Shawinigan-1 power plant, which was shut down in 1949 and later demolished, all of the plants built by SW&P are still in operation today. The Cité de l'Énergie , a theme park that deals with energy, has existed around the Shawinigan-2 power plant since 1997 .
literature
- Claude Bellavance: Shawinigan Water and Power (1898-1963): Formation et déclin d'un groupe industriel au Québec . Éditions Boréal, Montreal 1994, ISBN 2-89052-586-4 .
- André Bolduc, Clarence Hogue, Daniel Larouche: Québec: l'héritage d'un siècle d'électricité . Libre Expression / Forces, Montreal 1989, ISBN 2-89111-388-8 .