The Bersimis-2 generating station is a

dam A dam is a barrier that stops or restricts the flow of surface water or underground streams. Reservoirs created by dams not only suppress floods but also provide water for activities such as irrigation, human consumption, industrial use ...

and a

run-of-the-river Run-of-river hydroelectricity (ROR) or run-of-the-river hydroelectricity is a type of hydroelectric generation plant whereby little or no water storage is provided. Run-of-the-river power plants may have no water storage at all or a limited amou ...

hydroelectric power station Hydroelectricity, or hydroelectric power, is electricity generated from hydropower (water power). Hydropower supplies one sixth of the world's electricity, almost 4500 TWh in 2020, which is more than all other renewable sources combined and ...

built by

Hydro-Québec Hydro-Québec is a public utility that manages the generation, transmission and distribution of electricity in the Canadian province of Quebec, as well as the export of power to portions of the Northeast United States. It was established by the ...

on the

Betsiamites River The Betsiamites (also called Bersimis) is a river of Côte-Nord, Quebec, Canada, which joins the Saint Lawrence River. The Pipmuacan Reservoir, impounded by the Bersimis-1 Dam, is roughly halfway down its course.Natural Resources Canada, Atlas ...

, in Lac-au-Brochet, north of the town of

Forestville, Quebec Forestville is a town in the Côte-Nord region of Quebec, Canada. It is located on the north shore of the Saint Lawrence River along Route 138, approximately southwest of Baie-Comeau. There is a vehicle and passenger ferry service from Forestvil ...

. Construction started in 1956 and the power station was commissioned in 1959 with an initial nameplate capacity of It is the second of two plants built by Hydro-Québec on the Betsiamites. Bersimis-2 was preceded by Bersimis-1, built 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

Geography

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 The St. Lawrence River (french: Fleuve Saint-Laurent, ) is a large river in the middle latitudes of North America. Its headwaters begin flowing from Lake Ontario in a (roughly) northeasterly direction, into the Gulf of St. Lawrence, connectin ...

, downstream from

Quebec City Quebec City ( or ; french: Ville de Québec), officially Québec (), is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Quebec. As of July 2021, the city had a population of 549,459, and the Communauté métrop ...

. With the exception of an

Innu The Innu / Ilnu ("man", "person") or Innut / Innuat / Ilnuatsh ("people"), formerly called Montagnais from the French colonial period ( French for "mountain people", English pronunciation: ), are the Indigenous inhabitants of territory in the ...

reserve Reserve or reserves may refer to: Places * Reserve, Kansas, a US city * Reserve, Louisiana, a census-designated place in St. John the Baptist Parish * Reserve, Montana, a census-designated place in Sheridan County * Reserve, New Mexico, a US vi ...

Betsiamites Betsiamites may refer to: * the Betsiamites River in Quebec, * the Innu The Innu / Ilnu ("man", "person") or Innut / Innuat / Ilnuatsh ("people"), formerly called Montagnais from the French colonial period ( French for "mountain people", Engl ...

, at the mouth of the river, the area is scarcely populated. The word ''Betsiamites'' or ''Pessamit'' is from the

innu language Innu-aimun or Montagnais is an Algonquian language spoken by over 10,000 Innu in Labrador and Quebec in Eastern Canada. It is a member of the Cree–Montagnais–Naskapi dialect continuum and is spoken in various dialects depending on the commu ...

and means "the assembly place of the

lampreys Lampreys (sometimes inaccurately called lamprey eels) are an ancient extant lineage of jawless fish of the order Petromyzontiformes , placed in the superclass Cyclostomata. The adult lamprey may be characterized by a toothed, funnel-like s ...

". ''Bersimis'' was not used by either the

s, the French or the

French Canadian French Canadians (referred to as Canadiens mainly before the twentieth century; french: Canadiens français, ; feminine form: , ), or Franco-Canadians (french: Franco-Canadiens), refers to either an ethnic group who trace their ancestry to Fren ...

s, but was introduced by

British admiral Admiral is a senior rank of the Royal Navy, which equates to the NATO rank code OF-9, outranked only by the rank of Admiral of the Fleet (Royal Navy), admiral of the fleet. Royal Navy officers holding the ranks of Rear Admiral (Royal Navy), rea ...

Henry Wolsey Bayfield Admiral Henry Wolsey Bayfield (21 January 1795 – 10 February 1885) was a British naval officer and surveyor. Early life and career Bayfield was born in Kingston-upon-Hull, to John Wolsey Bayfield and Eliza Petit. His family was an ancien ...

, in his hydrographic surveys of the Saint Lawrence River of 1837. The

Hudson's Bay Company The Hudson's Bay Company (HBC; french: Compagnie de la Baie d'Hudson) is a Canadian retail business group. A fur trading business for much of its existence, HBC now owns and operates retail stores in Canada. The company's namesake business div ...

used the name when opened a

trading post A trading post, trading station, or trading house, also known as a factory, is an establishment or settlement where goods and services could be traded. Typically the location of the trading post would allow people from one geographic area to tr ...

in 1855, as did the

post office A post office is a public facility and a retailer that provides mail services, such as accepting letters and parcels, providing post office boxes, and selling postage stamps, packaging, and stationery. Post offices may offer additional serv ...

in 1863. After 2 decades of efforts, residents and the

Quebec government Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirteen p ...

convinced the

federal government A federation (also known as a federal state) is a political entity characterized by a union of partially self-governing provinces, states, or other regions under a central federal government (federalism). In a federation, the self-governin ...

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. Located in the Central Laurentians ecoregion of the Boreal Shield Ecozone, the

hinterland Hinterland is a German word meaning "the land behind" (a city, a port, or similar). Its use in English was first documented by the geographer George Chisholm in his ''Handbook of Commercial Geography'' (1888). Originally the term was associated ...

is heavily forested and dominated by

softwood file:Pinus sylvestris wood ray section 1 beentree.jpg, Scots Pine, a typical and well-known softwood Softwood is wood from gymnosperm trees such as conifers. The term is opposed to hardwood, which is the wood from angiosperm trees. The main diff ...

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...

: black spruce (''Picea mariana''), balsam fir (''Abies balsamea'') and white spruce (''Picea glauca''). In 1937, the

granted a forest concession to the Anglo Canadian Pulp & Paper Co. to supply its Forestville mill, on the coast. The area is described as "a sportsman's paradise, where fish,

moose The moose (in North America) or elk (in Eurasia) (''Alces alces'') is a member of the New World deer subfamily and is the only species in the genus ''Alces''. It is the largest and heaviest extant species in the deer family. Most adult mal ...

bear Bears are carnivoran mammals of the family Ursidae. They are classified as caniforms, or doglike carnivorans. Although only eight species of bears are extant, they are widespread, appearing in a wide variety of habitats throughout the Nor ...

and a host of other game creatures abound".

Background

With a continued surge of demand, electricity supplies remained a concern at Hydro-Québec and other Quebec-based

utilities A public utility company (usually just utility) is an organization that maintains the infrastructure for a public service (often also providing a service using that infrastructure). Public utilities are subject to forms of public control and r ...

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 In politics, a shovel ready construction project (usually larger-scale infrastructure) is where planning and engineering is advanced enough that—with sufficient funding—construction can begin within a very short time. The term was popularized ...

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 The St. Lawrence Seaway (french: la Voie Maritime du Saint-Laurent) is a system of locks, canals, and channels in Canada and the United States that permits oceangoing vessels to travel from the Atlantic Ocean to the Great Lakes of North Americ ...

, 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.

Geography

Background

See also

References

Further reading