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Brazeau Reservoir is a large man made
reservoir A reservoir (; from French ''réservoir'' ) is an enlarged lake behind a dam. Such a dam may be either artificial, built to store fresh water or it may be a natural formation. Reservoirs can be created in a number of ways, including contro ...
in
Alberta Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Ter ...
, Canada. It is located in
Brazeau County Brazeau County is a municipal district in central Alberta, Canada. It is located in Census Division 11. The municipal district was incorporated on July 1, 1988 from ''Improvement District No. 222''. On October 1, 2002, the name was changed fr ...
of
central Alberta Central Alberta is a region located in the Canadian province of Alberta. Central Alberta is the most densely populated rural area in the province. Agriculture and energy are important to the area's economy. Geography Central Alberta is bordere ...
, south-west of
Drayton Valley Drayton Valley is a town in central Alberta, Canada. It is located on Alberta Highway 22, Highway 22 (Cowboy Trail), approximately southwest of Edmonton. It is surrounded by Brazeau County, known for its vast petroleum, oil fields. The town is lo ...
. It was developed along the
Brazeau River The Brazeau River is a river in western Alberta, Canada. It is a major tributary of the North Saskatchewan River. The river was named for Joseph Brazeau, a linguist associated with the Palliser Expedition. Course The river originates in the h ...
, at the confluence with Elk River, in the hydrographic basin of the
North Saskatchewan River The North Saskatchewan River is a glacier-fed river that flows from the Canadian Rockies continental divide east to central Saskatchewan, where it joins with the South Saskatchewan River to make up the Saskatchewan River. Its water flows eventual ...
.


Energy production

The dam and
hydroelectric plant 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 ...
are managed by
TransAlta TransAlta Corporation (formerly Calgary Power Company, Ltd.) is an electricity power generator and wholesale marketing company headquartered in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. It is a privately owned corporation and its shares are traded publicly. It o ...
. The plant has an electricity generating capacity of 355
megawatts The watt (symbol: W) is the unit of power or radiant flux in the International System of Units (SI), equal to 1 joule per second or 1 kg⋅m2⋅s−3. It is used to quantify the rate of energy transfer. The watt is named after James Watt ...
(MW). The Brazeau Plant is the largest hydroelectric plant owned by TransAlta. The
hydrology Hydrology () is the scientific study of the movement, distribution, and management of water on Earth and other planets, including the water cycle, water resources, and environmental watershed sustainability. A practitioner of hydrology is calle ...
of the Brazeau area allows it to produce an annual average of 397,000 megawatt hours (MW⋅h) of electric energy. The annual output of the Brazeau Plant is slightly behind TransAlta's
Bighorn Dam Bighorn Dam (or ''Bighorn Hydro Plant'') is an embankment dam located in Clearwater County in west-central Alberta, Canada. It was built by Calgary Power in 1972, and led to the creation of Lake Abraham, Alberta's largest reservoir. The dam and ...
, with a smaller peak capacity of 120 MW but an available water supply that allows it to produce 408,000 MW⋅h each year. In order to deal with the sometimes challenging water supply on the Brazeau, the plant includes a pump-back system capable of lifting water from the outflow below the dam back up to the long reservoir, allowing the power plant to maintain capacity at low reservoir water levels.


Recreation

The Brazeau Reservoir Provincial Recreation Area is established near the lake, upstream from the dam and another three campgrounds dot its shores Image:Brazeau Reservoir 1.JPG, The Spillway of the Brazeau Dam Image:Brazeau Reservoir 2.JPG, The Brazeau Dam


See also

*
List of lakes in Alberta This is a list of lakes in Alberta, Canada. Most of Alberta's lakes were formed during the last glaciation, about 12,000 years ago. There are many different types of lakes in Alberta, from glacial lakes in the Canadian Rockies ...


References

Brazeau County Brazeau Reservoirs in Alberta Pumped-storage hydroelectric power stations {{CentralAlberta-geo-stub