Kelsey Hydroelectric Power Station

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Kelsey Hydroelectric Power Station
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location
Kelsey Hydroelectric Power Station, Manitoba
Kelsey Hydroelectric Power Station
Coordinates 56 ° 2 '26 "  N , 96 ° 32' 20"  W Coordinates: 56 ° 2 '26 "  N , 96 ° 32' 20"  W.
country CanadaCanada Canada
place Thompson
Waters Nelson River
f1
power plant
operator Manitoba Hydro
construction time 1957-1961
Start of operation 1961
technology
Bottleneck performance 225 megawatts
Turbines 7 pieces
Others

The Kelsey hydropower plant . Kelsey Generating Station , is a hydroelectric power station on the Nelson River in the northeast of the Canadian province of Manitoba . It is operated by Manitoba Hydro , the provincial public utility company. It is named after Henry Kelsey , a fur trader and explorer who was one of the first Europeans to travel to northern Manitoba.

history

The power station is the oldest hydroelectric power station on the Nelson River. It was built between 1957 and 1961 to supply the then newly emerging mining industry in the surrounding region around Moak Lake and Mystery Lake as well as the planned town of Thompson , about 90 km southwest, which was also newly built as an industrial center . The power plant originally delivered 160 MW with five turbines  . In 1969 and 1972 a further turbine was installed, which increased the output to around 225 MW. Six years after commissioning, the power plant was connected to Manitoba's regional power grid. Today there are three high-voltage lines to Thompson, two to Gillam with a connection to the nearby Radisson substation of the Nelson-River-Bipol as well as to serve Ilford and Churchill and one to Split Lake . Each of the three-phase alternating current lines has a voltage of 138  kV . The power plant also supplies a number of smaller municipalities in the area, which were not previously connected to the regional power grid and therefore had to generate their electricity with local diesel generators.

About 700 m east of the dam with the turbines and separated from it by an island with a dike is a flood relief with nine passages.

Members of the York Factory First Nation also found work building the power station . Based on an agreement with the catering operator Sodexo , they are now employed in this area.

Expansion planning

In late 2006, Manitoba Hydro began replacing all generators one at a time with more powerful ones. This is intended to increase the total output to 300 MW, originally planned to be 311 MW. The renovation should be completed by 2013 at the latest. The project met with strong criticism from York Factory First Nation, which has its settlement focus around 25 kilometers northeast of the dam. It was criticized that the effects of the expansion on the environment had not been examined, and that the community as immediate residents had not been included in the planning.

In addition to the renewal of the existing ones, three more turbines could be installed, which would mean an increase in output to over 400 MW. This expansion is particularly considered in connection with the Nelson River Hydroelectric Project , a large-scale and in some cases already implemented plan to multiply the production of electricity from hydropower along the Nelson River.

Transport links

At about the same time as construction began, a railway branch line from the Hudson Bay Railway (HBR) to the eastern end of the dam was also built. This route is still used today for freight traffic. In the early years, Manitoba Hydro also operated passenger transport using a gasoline-powered rail bus from the Mack company .

Immediately north of the end of the line is a small airport called Kelsey Airport, also operated by Manitoba Hydro. Its abbreviation is KES according to the IATA airport code or CZEE according to the ICAO code .

literature

  • Water Power Act Licenses. 2008 Annual Report, Appendix G, November 9, 2010. Available online on the Manitoba Department of Aquatic Environment website here , PDF file, 19.7 MB.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ 1960-1969 The birth of Manitoba Hydro, and northern expansion. (No longer available online.) Manitoba Hydro, archived from the original on December 12, 2011 ; Retrieved August 2, 2011 (Manitoba Hydro history on their website).
  2. ↑ a b c Kelsey Generating Station. York Factory First Nation, accessed Aug. 2, 2011 .
  3. ↑ Current and planned hydro development in Canada. (PDF file, 2.5 MB) (No longer available online.) In: Hydropower & Dams. Canadian Hydropower Association, pp. 50-52 , archived from the original on October 7, 2006 ; accessed on August 2, 2011 (English, edition 2/2003).
  4. ^ Water Power Act Licenses, Kelsey Generating Station, Third Amendment Request. (PDF file, 3.3 MB) Supporting Documentation. Manitoba Hydro, June 24, 2010, accessed August 2, 2011 (description of the project on the Manitoba Department of Aquatic Environment website).
  5. ^ Manitoba Hydro 2009/2010 Power Resource Plan. (PDF file, 102 kB) September 16, 2009, accessed on August 2, 2011 (English).
  6. ↑ Native leader calls for halt to hydro dam upgrades. CBC News, May 12, 2008, accessed August 12, 2011 .
  7. ^ Proposed and Existing Hydro Dams for Northern Manitoba. Manitoba EcoNetwork GIS / Mapping Center, environmental organization Manitoba Wildlands , February 14, 2005, accessed August 2, 2011 (overview map of the existing and planned hydropower plants on the Nelson River).
  8. ↑ It Takes Power To Make Mines. The Financial Post, April 19, 1958, accessed August 2, 2011 .
  9. ↑ Railroad Snapshot. (PDF file, 414 kB) (No longer available online.) Hudson Bay Railway Company, parent company OmniTRAX , p. 2 , archived from the original on November 15, 2011 ; accessed on August 2, 2011 (English, map of the routes served by HBR).
  10. ↑ David A. Wyatt: Winnipeg Electric Company Rail Bus 333. 2009, accessed on August 2, 2011 (English, picture of the vehicle with brief explanation).