The Kemano Generating Station is situated 75 km (47 mi) southeast of

Kitimat Kitimat is a district municipality in the North Coast region of British Columbia, Canada. It is a member municipality of the Regional District of Kitimat–Stikine regional government. The Kitimat Valley is part of the most populous urban distr ...

in the province of

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...

, Canada. It was completed in 1954, providing

hydroelectricity Hydroelectricity, or hydroelectric power, is Electricity generation, 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 Renewabl ...

for

Alcan Alcan was a Canadian mining company and aluminum manufacturer. It was founded in 1902 as the Northern Aluminum Company, renamed Aluminum Company of Canada in 1925, and Alcan Aluminum in 1966. It took the name Alcan Incorporated in 2001. During t ...

's Kitimat

Aluminum smelter Aluminium (aluminum in AmE, American and CanE, Canadian English) is a chemical element with the Symbol (chemistry), symbol Al and atomic number 13. Aluminium has a density lower than those of other common metals, at approximately o ...

. The powerhouse is built in a cavern created 427 m (1,400 ft) inside the base of Mt Dubose. It produces 896 MW of power from its eight generator units, each of which has a capacity of 112 MW. It was the largest producer in the province when it was built, and is now the fifth largest electrical plant in British Columbia. The Kemano I project was made possible by constructing the largest rockfill dam in the world at the time, the

Kenney Dam Kenney may refer to: * Kenney (name) Places United States communities * Kenney, Illinois * Kenney, Texas Geographical features * Hotel Kenney, Rideau Lakes, Ontario, Canada * Kenney Dam, a hydroelectric dam on the Nechako River, British Col ...

on the east side of the

Nechako reservoir The Nechako Reservoir, sometimes called the Ootsa Lake Reservoir, is a hydroelectric reservoir in British Columbia, Canada that was formed by the Kenney Dam making a diversion of the Nechako River through a 16-km intake tunnel in the Kitimat Range ...

, some 193 km (120 mi) to the east. On the west side of the Nechako reservoir, a long water intake tunnel running through the Coast Mountain range diverts river water to

penstock A penstock is a sluice or gate or intake structure that controls water flow, or an enclosed pipe that delivers water to hydro turbines and sewerage systems. The term is inherited from the earlier technology of mill ponds and watermills. H ...

s for a huge vertical drop to the power station at the former company town of

Kemano Kemano was a settlement situated 75 km (47 mi) southeast of Kitimat in the province of British Columbia in Canada. It was built to service a hydroelectric power station, built to provide energy for Alcan to smelt aluminum from its ore. ...

, BC. In 1995, the provincial government cancelled the Kemano Completion Project (Kemano II) that Alcan had been planning since 1987. The smelter at Kitimat consumes about 80-85% of the plant's electricity, and the remainder is sold to BC Hydro's Powerex.http://www.riotintobcoperations.com/wp-content/uploads/Future_Built_on_Facts_Brochure-Sept2005_vol1.pdf

Other names

*Kemano I *Kemano project *Nechako-Kemano project *Kemano Hydro Project *Kemano Powerhouse *Kemano power station *Kemano Diversion *Kemano-Kitimat hydro *Kemano System *Kemano hydroelectric plant *Kemano generating facility *Kemano generating plant *Kemano Generating Station - is used by BC Hydro and the Province of British Columbia in legal documents. *Because the Kenney Dam and the Kemano powerhouse are miles apart and not connected, they don't share any name.

References

{{Reflist Hydroelectric power stations in British Columbia Alcan Rock-filled dams Dams completed in 1954 Energy infrastructure completed in 1954 1954 establishments in British Columbia Dams in British Columbia

Other names

See also

References