Bersimis-2 generating station

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.[1]

Bersimis-2 generating station
Location of Bersimis-2 generating station in Quebec
LocationLac-au-Brochet, Quebec,
Canada
Coordinates49°10′31″N 69°13′45″W
Construction began1956
Opening date1959
Owner(s)Hydro-Québec
Dam and spillways
Type of damGravity dam
ImpoundsBetsiamites River
Height276 ft (84 m)
Length2,100 ft (640 m)
Width (base)310 ft (94 m)
Spillway capacity130,000 cu ft/s (3,700 m3/s)
Reservoir
Surface area4,200 ha
Power Station
Hydraulic head380 ft (115.82 m)
Turbines5
Installed capacity869 MW

It is the second of two plants built by Hydro-Québec on the Betsiamites. Bersimis-2 was preceded by Bersimis-1, built 30 km (20 mi) upstream between 1953 and 1956. With upgrades and further river diversions, Bersimis-2's installed capacity has been increased over time to its current capacity of 869 megawatts.[2]

Geography
Main article: Betsiamites River

The Betsiamites River, also known as the Bersimis, is located halfway between the Saguenay and Outardes rivers, on the north shore of the Saint Lawrence River, 300 km (190 mi) downstream from Quebec City. With the exception of an Innu reserve at Betsiamites, at the mouth of the river, the area is scarcely populated.

The word Betsiamites or Pessamit is from the innu language and means "the assembly place of the lampreys".[3] Bersimis was not used by either the Innus, the French or the French Canadians, but was introduced by British admiral Henry Wolsey Bayfield, in his hydrographic surveys of the Saint Lawrence River of 1837. The Hudson's Bay Company used the name when opened a trading post in 1855, as did the post office in 1863. After 2 decades of efforts, residents and the Quebec government convinced the federal government to start using Betsiamites in 1919. But administrative use of Bersimis continued for decades and Hydro-Québec used it in the 1950s to name its facility in the area.[4]

Located in the Central Laurentians ecoregion of the Boreal Shield Ecozone, the hinterland is heavily forested and dominated by softwood species: black spruce (Picea mariana), balsam fir (Abies balsamea) and white spruce (Picea glauca).[5][6] In 1937, the Quebec government granted a forest concession to the Anglo Canadian Pulp & Paper Co.[7] to supply its Forestville mill, on the coast. The area is described as "a sportsman's paradise, where fish, moose, bear and a host of other game creatures abound".[8]

Background

With a continued surge of demand, electricity supplies remained a concern at Hydro-Québec and other Quebec-based utilities in the mid-1950s, but the commissioning of the first 3 units at Bersimis-1 in the last quarter of 1956 somewhat alleviated the problem. Not wanting to get caught in another potential shortage situation, company managers decided to proceed early with two more shovel ready projects: the first one was third and final phase of the Beauharnois generating station, southwest of Montreal which was made possible by the simultaneous construction of the Saint Lawrence Seaway, and Bersimis-2. The decision to build the second plant on the north shore early had the extra benefit of having both labor and equipment in place.[9]

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See also

References
  1. Bolduc, Hogue & Larouche 1989, p. 139
  2. Hydro-Québec Production (2010), Hydroelectric Generating Stations (as of December 31, 2009), Hydro-Québec, retrieved 2010-08-21
  3. McNaughton 1960, p. 126
  4. Commission de toponymie du Québec (2010), Pessamit, Commission de toponymie du Québec, retrieved 2010-09-16
  5. (in French) Ministère du Développement durable, de l'Environnement et des Parcs du Québec, "Description des provinces naturelles: Province D - Les Laurentides centrales (205 000 km2)", Aires protégées au Québec - Les provinces naturelles (in French), archived from the original on 2006-01-06, retrieved 201-09-15 Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  6. Government of Canada, "Ecoregions of Canada: Central Laurentians", The Ecological Framework of Canada, retrieved 2010-09-15
  7. Government of Quebec (2003-08-15), Règlement sur la zone d'exploitation contrôlée de Forestville, R.R.Q., c. C-61.1, r. 93 (in French), CanLII, archived from the original on 2012-07-21, retrieved 2010-09-14
  8. McNaughton 1960, p. 125
  9. Bolduc, Hogue & Larouche 1989, pp. 137–140

Further reading
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