Belly River Hydroelectric Plant, Canadian Hydro's first hydro project

Canadian Hydro operates twelve hydroelectric plants in three Canadian provinces. Belly River, Waterton, St. Mary and Taylor are located in Alberta; Ragged Chute, Appleton, Moose Rapids, Galetta and Misema in Ontario; and, Akolkolex, Pingston and Upper Mamquam in British Columbia.

Belly River
Commissioned in April 1991, the Belly River Hydroelectric Plant was Canadian Hydro's first hydro project. Adjacent to the Belly River Inlet Chute located near Glenwood, Alberta, the plant generates electricity by diverting a portion of the flow from the Waterton-Belly Diversion Canal to a turbine.

Waterton
The Alberta Government constructed the Waterton Reservoir in the early 1960s to meet the growing irrigation demands in Southern Alberta. In 1992, Canadian Hydro built the Waterton Hydroelectric Plant as a run-of river facility that produces electricity from the Waterton River as it flows from the Waterton Reservoir.

St. Mary
The St. Mary Hydroelectric Plant is located at the base of the St. Mary Dam. The facility withdraws water from the dam’s reservoir and reroutes the water into a diversion tunnel that flows into the St. Mary River. The St. Mary plant produces electricity by tapping into water flowing from within the diversion tunnel.

Taylor
Adjacent  to  the  Taylor  Coulee  chute  located  near  Magrath,  which  is about 40 kilometres south of Lethbridge, Alberta, the Taylor Hydroelectric Plant operates during the six-month irrigation season each year from April to October. To produce electric  power,  the  plant  diverts  a  portion  of  the  flow  from  the  irrigation canal to the turbine.

Ragged Chute
Commissioned in the spring of 1991, Ragged Chute is located on the Montreal River approximately 25 kilometres south of New Liskeard, Northern Ontario. The site was originally developed in 1910 to supply compressed air to the local silver mining community in nearby Cobalt. Today, the still working air plant co-exists with Canadian Hydro's Ragged Chute Hydro Plant as a stark contrast between old ingenuity and modern technology.

Appleton
The Appleton Plant is located near the town of Appleton near Ottawa, Ontario. The plant was built in 1994 on the Mississippi River at the site of an old mill, the remnants of which still stand as testimony to the site’s previous life. Power is generated using three induction generators coupled through gearboxes to propeller and Kaplan turbines.

Moose Rapids
The Moose Rapids Hydroelectric Plant is located near the city of Sudbury, Ontario. Canadian Hydro built the plant in 1997 on the Wanapitei River, approximately five kilometres downstream from Wanapitei Lake. Power is generated using three induction generators coupled through gearboxes to propeller and Kaplan turbines.

Galetta
Canadian Hydro purchased the Galetta Hydroelectric Plant in early 1998 from a local independent power producer. The plant was built in 1907 to provide power to local areas with two Westinghouse generators. Canadian Hydro upgraded the generators, added two propeller turbines with induction generators, replaced the original turbines with larger machines and automated control room components.

Misema
Canadian Hydro purchased the Misema Hydroelectric Plant from Canadian Renewable Energy Corporation in January 2005.  This plant started up in the spring of 2003 and is located north of New Liskeard, near the Ragged Chute plant.  A 280 metre long tunnel carries the water to the turbine which works at high efficiency, regardless of water flow.

Akolkolex
The Akolkolex Hydroelectric Plant commenced commercial operations on April 7, 1995 when the generator was first synchronized with the BC Hydroelectric system. The powerhouse is located adjacent to the Akolkolex River, 25 kilometres southeast of Revelstoke, British Columbia. The river discharges into the Upper Arrow Reservoir, which is part of the Columbia River Basin.

Pingston

Water intake to Pingston Hydroelectric facility

Pingston Creek is a tributary of the Columbia River located south of Revelstoke in British Columbia. Designed and constructed by Canadian Hydro, the Pingston Creek Hydroelectric Plant is a joint venture with Brookfield Power (formerly Brascan Power). Pingston began operations in May of 2003 with two turbines and a third turbine was installed in 2004 for a total capacity of 45 MW. A major priority of the project was to enhance the habitat for rainbow trout in Pingston Creek.

• Developing Private Hydro: The Story of Pingston Creek (Nov 2003)

Upper Mamquam
Construction and commissioning have been completed on the Upper Mamquam project, located north of Vancouver in the Squamish region.

The facility is a run-of-river hydro plant that diverts water from the Mamquam River through a penstock into turbines located in a powerhouse downstream. The water turns the turbines generating 25 MW of power and is returned to the river directly below the powerhouse.

The 98,000 MWh/year of power produced by the plant will be sold to BC Hydro under a 20 year power sale contract. Now that the plant is operational, Canadian Hydro will seek certification of the hydro plant as a Green Power facility under the Environmental Choice Ecologo^M program