The Churchill Falls (Labrador) Corporation, also known as CF(L)Co or CFLco is a Canadian electric company. The company was founded in 1961 and is based in St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador. Churchill Falls (Labrador) Corporation Limited operates as a subsidiary of

Newfoundland and Labrador Hydro Newfoundland and Labrador Hydro (NL Hydro), commonly known as Hydro, is a provincial Crown corporation that generates and delivers electricity for Newfoundland and Labrador, as well as portions of Quebec and the north-eastern areas of the United ...

History

CF(L)Co was originally formed in 1958 as a subsidiary of British Newfoundland Development Corporation (BRINCO) and known as the Hamilton Falls Power Corporation, it built and operated the

Churchill Falls Churchill Falls is a high waterfall on the Churchill River in Labrador, Canada. Formerly counted among the most impressive natural features of Canada, the diversion of the river for the Churchill Falls Generating Station has cut off almo ...

hydroelectric complex. In 1961, the Government of

Newfoundland and Labrador Newfoundland and Labrador (; french: Terre-Neuve-et-Labrador; frequently abbreviated as NL) is the easternmost provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada, in the country's Atlantic Canada, Atlantic region. The province comprises t ...

granted the Hamilton Falls Power Corporation a

99-year lease A 99-year lease was, under historic common law, the longest possible term of a lease of real property. It is no longer the law in most common law jurisdictions today, yet 99-year leases continue to be common as a matter of business practice and ...

to the 67,340 square kilometers watershed of the Upper Churchill. The Hamilton Falls Power Corporation became known as the Churchill Falls Corporation in 1965 when the name of the falls was changed to commemorate former British Prime Minister

Winston Churchill Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 187424 January 1965) was a British statesman, soldier, and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from 1940 to 1945 during the Second World War, and again from ...

. CF(L)Co began construction on

Churchill Falls Generating Station The Churchill Falls Generating Station is a hydroelectric underground power station in Labrador. At 5,428 MW, it is the sixteenth largest in the world, and the second-largest in Canada, after the Robert-Bourassa generating station in northwe ...

in 1966 and on May 12, 1969, signed a power contract with Hydro-Québec. The agreement committed Hydro-Québec to buy most of the plant's output at one-quarter of a cent per kilowatt-hour — the exact rate is 0.25425¢ per kilowatt-hour until 2016 and 0.20¢ for the last 25 years of the contract —, to build and maintain

power line An overhead power line is a structure used in electric power transmission and distribution to transmit electrical energy across large distances. It consists of one or more uninsulated electrical cables (commonly multiples of three for three-p ...

s to carry the power to market and to enter into a risk-sharing agreement whereas the

Quebec 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 thirtee ...

Crown corporation would cover part of the interest risk and buy some of BRINCO's debt, in exchange for an increased share in CF(L)Co. The 5,428-megawatt generating station delivered its first kilowatt hours on December 6, 1971 and its 11 turbines were fully operational by June 1974. In 1974 the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador purchased a controlling interest in CF(L)Co from BRINCO and turned it over to the

Newfoundland and Labrador Power Commission Newfoundland and Labrador Hydro (NL Hydro), commonly known as Hydro, is a provincial Crown corporation that generates and delivers electricity for Newfoundland and Labrador, as well as portions of Quebec and the north-eastern areas of the United ...

. The Commission had a 65.8% share in the corporation and the remaining 34.2% was owned by Hydro-Québec.

Legal battle

In 1967, the year CF(L)Co qualified for Crown Corporation status, the Newfoundland Government initiated proceedings in the Newfoundland Supreme Court to recall 800 megawatts (MW) of the Churchill Falls power from CF(L)Co based upon the lease granted to the corporation in 1961. By 1980, the case had not been resolved, and in that year the

Newfoundland Legislature The General Assembly of Newfoundland and Labrador (known as the General Assembly of Newfoundland until 6 December 2001) is the legislature of the province of Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. Today, the legislature is made of two elements: the m ...

passed the

Re Upper Churchill Water Rights Reversion Act ''Reference Re Upper Churchill Water Rights Reversion Act (Nfld)'' 9841 S.C.R. 297 is a famous constitutional reference question put to the Supreme Court of Canada. The Court found that legislation passed by the government of Newfoundland to take b ...

reclaim Reclaim, reclaimed, reclaimer, reclaiming or reclamation means "to get something back". It may refer to: * Land reclamation, creating new land from oceans, riverbeds, or lake beds * Dedesertification, reversing of the land degradation in arid ...

the water rights granted to the corporation. Both legislations and the contract itself were subject to protracted legal battles between the two neighboring provinces, ending up before the Supreme Court of Canada. The court declared the Upper Churchill Water Rights Reversion Act ''

ultra vires ('beyond the powers') is a Latin phrase used in law to describe an act which requires legal authority but is done without it. Its opposite, an act done under proper authority, is ('within the powers'). Acts that are may equivalently be termed ...

'' in 1984, and twice affirmed the validity of the 1969 contract in 1988..

External links

Newfoundland and Labrador Hydro websiteNalcor Energy website

References

{{reflist, 2 Churchill Falls Electric power companies of Canada Crown corporations of Newfoundland and Labrador Hydroelectric power companies of Canada Newfoundland and Labrador Hydro Companies based in St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador Hydro-Québec

History

Legal battle

External links

See also

References