The Seven Sisters Generating Station is a hydroelectric generating station located on the

Winnipeg River The Winnipeg River is a Canadian river that flows roughly northwest from Lake of the Woods in the province of Ontario to Lake Winnipeg in Manitoba. This river is long from the Norman Dam in Kenora to its mouth at Lake Winnipeg. Its watershed is ...

, in eastern Manitoba near

Seven Sisters Falls, Manitoba Seven Sisters Falls is a community in the Rural Municipality of Whitemouth, Manitoba. It is the location of Manitoba Hydro's Seven Sisters Generating Station and the Whitemouth Falls Provincial Park. Seven Sisters Falls was named by fur traders f ...

. The

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 ...

is called Natalie Lake and is used for recreational boating and fishing. The present capacity of the generating station is 165 megawatts, and in a typical year the station can produce 990 million

kilowatt-hours A kilowatt-hour (unit symbol: kW⋅h or kW h; commonly written as kWh) is a unit of energy: one kilowatt of power for one hour. In terms of SI derived units with special names, it equals 3.6 megajoules (MJ). Kilowatt-hours are a common bil ...

. It is the largest

generating station A power station, also referred to as a power plant and sometimes generating station or generating plant, is an industrial facility for the generation of electric power. Power stations are generally connected to an electrical grid. Many pow ...

on the Winnipeg River. Power is transmitted over five 115 kV lines to

Winnipeg Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the province of Manitoba in Canada. It is centred on the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine rivers, near the longitudinal centre of North America. , Winnipeg had a city population of 749,6 ...

, and sixth and seventh lines to the

Whiteshell Whiteshells (also known as Cowrie shells or Sacred ''Miigis'' Shells) were used by aboriginal peoples around the world, but the words "whiteshell" and "''Miigis'' Shell" specifically refers to shells used by Ojibway peoples in their Midewiwin cerem ...

and on to

Kenora, Ontario Kenora (), previously named Rat Portage (french: Portage-aux-Rats), is a city situated on the Lake of the Woods in Ontario, Canada, close to the Manitoba boundary, and about east of Winnipeg by road. It is the seat of Kenora District. The hist ...

. The powerhouse is 128 metres long. The total discharge of water from the station is 1,146 cubic metres per second, with a total drop from forebay to

tailrace A water wheel is a machine for converting the energy of flowing or falling water into useful forms of power, often in a watermill. A water wheel consists of a wheel (usually constructed from wood or metal), with a number of blades or bucket ...

of 18.6 metres. The station has a 225 metre-long spillway. The forebay nominal elevation is 274.2 metres

AMSL Height above mean sea level is a measure of the vertical distance (height, elevation or altitude) of a location in reference to a historic mean sea level taken as a vertical datum. In geodesy, it is formalized as ''orthometric heights''. The comb ...

and the forebay area is 21 square kilometres. The forebay is retained by more than 12 km of dykes.

History

Construction of the station by the

Winnipeg Electric Company Winnipeg Transit is the public transit agency, and the bus-service provider, of the City of Winnipeg, Manitoba. Established years ago, it is owned by the city government and currently employs nearly 1,600 people—including approximately 1,1 ...

(now a part of Manitoba Hydro) started in 1929, with first power in 1931, producing 75 megawatts from three vertical turbine-generator units. The second stage of construction began in 1948, when the last three units were installed. The last units were installed in 1952. When first constructed, operating staff lived in the townsite (

Seven Sisters, Manitoba Seven Sisters Falls is a community in the Rural Municipality of Whitemouth, Manitoba. It is the location of Manitoba Hydro's Seven Sisters Generating Station and the Whitemouth Falls Provincial Park. Seven Sisters Falls was named by fur traders ...

), but the plant was automated in the 1970s and put under remote control, requiring a much smaller on-site staff.

References

{{reflist

External links

IEEE Canada History of Seven Sisters Manitoba Historical Society
Hydroelectric power stations in Manitoba Eastman Region, Manitoba

History

See also

References

External links