La Cite de l'Énergie (

French French may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France ** French people, a nation and ethnic group ** French cuisine, cooking traditions and practices Arts and media * The French (band), ...

for ''the city of energy'') is a

theme park An amusement park is a park that features various attractions, such as rides and games, and events for entertainment purposes. A theme park is a type of amusement park that bases its structures and attractions around a central theme, often fea ...

based on local industrial history and located in

Shawinigan Shawinigan (; ) is a city located on the Saint-Maurice River in the Mauricie area in Quebec, Canada. It had a population of 49,620 as of the 2021 Canadian census. Shawinigan is also a territory equivalent to a regional county municipality (TE) ...

Quebec Quebec is Canada's List of Canadian provinces and territories by area, largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

Facilities

science centre A science museum is a museum devoted primarily to science. Older science museums tended to concentrate on static displays of objects related to natural history, paleontology, geology, industry and industrial machinery, etc. Modern trends in mu ...

, which includes a high observation tower and features a

multimedia Multimedia is a form of communication that uses a combination of different content forms, such as Text (literary theory), writing, Sound, audio, images, animations, or video, into a single presentation. T ...

show as well as a permanent

interactive Across the many fields concerned with interactivity, including information science, computer science, human-computer interaction, communication, and industrial design, there is little agreement over the meaning of the term "interactivity", but mo ...

exhibit. The

lattice tower A lattice tower or truss tower is a freestanding vertical latticework, framework tower. This construction is widely used in transmission towers carrying high-voltage electric power lines, in radio masts and towers (a self-radiating tower or as a ...

consists of a dismantled

electricity pylon A transmission tower (also electricity pylon, hydro tower, or pylon) is a tall structure, usually a lattice tower made of steel that is used to support an overhead power line. In electrical grids, transmission towers carry high voltage, high-volt ...

used for a temporary power line crossing of

Saint Lawrence River The St. Lawrence River (, ) is a large international river in the middle latitudes of North America connecting the Great Lakes to the North Atlantic Ocean. Its waters flow in a northeasterly direction from Lake Ontario to the Gulf of St. Lawrenc ...

between

Grondines Deschambault-Grondines () is a municipality located in the Portneuf Regional County Municipality (RCM), in the Capitale-Nationale region, Quebec, Canada. Deschambault-Grondines was created in 2002 by the merger of the villages of Deschambault a ...

and Lotbinière, during the construction of the tunnel used to ultimately carry the

Quebec - New England Transmission Quebec is Canada's largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, New Brunswick to the southeast and a coastal border ...

line

*A Historical sector, which consists of two power plants, Alcan, Northern Aluminum Company (NAC) and Shawinigan 2, and the ruins of a third one ( Alcan 16), as well as an electricity distribution station and an

aluminium smelter Aluminium smelting is the process of extracting aluminium from its oxide, alumina, generally by the Hall-Héroult process. Alumina is extracted from the ore bauxite by means of the Bayer process at an List of alumina refineries, alumina refinery. ...

. The NAC plant (built circa 1906) was privately owned by

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 ...

and used for its fabrication of

aluminium Aluminium (or aluminum in North American English) is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol, symbol Al and atomic number 13. It has a density lower than that of other common metals, about one-third that of steel. Aluminium has ...

. It had become obsolete by the early 1950s and is now out of production. It is open to visitors. Shawinigan 2 was established in 1911 and enlarged in 1928 by the

Shawinigan Water & Power Company Established in 1898, the Shawinigan Water & Power Company was one of the dominant, privately owned Hydroelectricity, hydroelectric companies in Canada until 1963, when it became a part of Hydro-Québec. History Shawinigan Water & Power Company ...

and has been operated by

Hydro-Québec Hydro-Québec () is a Canadian Crown corporations of Canada#Quebec, Crown corporation public utility headquartered in Montreal, Quebec. It manages the electricity generation, generation, electric power transmission, transmission and electricity ...

since 1963. The structure was erected in the

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) is a Periodization, period of history and a European cultural movement covering the 15th and 16th centuries. It marked the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and was characterized by an effort to revive and sur ...

and

Art Deco Art Deco, short for the French (), is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design that first Art Deco in Paris, appeared in Paris in the 1910s just before World War I and flourished in the United States and Europe during the 1920 ...

architectural styles. The machinery consists of five generators activated by horizontal turbines and three generators activated by vertical turbines.

Management

La Cité de l'Énergie is administered by a

non-profit organization A nonprofit organization (NPO), also known as a nonbusiness entity, nonprofit institution, not-for-profit organization, or simply a nonprofit, is a non-governmental (private) legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public, or so ...

, whose funders are

Abitibi-Consolidated Abitibi Consolidated Inc. was a Canadian pulp and paper company based in Montreal, Quebec. Abitibi-Consolidated was formed from the merger of Abitibi-Price Inc. and Stone Consolidated Corp. on May 29, 1997; the Company merged with Bowater in 20 ...

and the City of Shawinigan. Robert Trudel has been the

general manager A general manager (GM) is an executive who has overall responsibility for managing both the revenue and cost elements of a company's income statement, known as profit & loss (P&L) responsibility. A general manager usually oversees most or all of ...

and the main

spokesperson A spokesperson, spokesman, or spokeswoman is someone engaged or elected to speak on behalf of others. Duties and function In the present media-sensitive world, many organizations are increasingly likely to employ professionals who have receiv ...

for La Cité de l'Énergie, since its foundation. Le baiser de l'année!
Karine Gélinas, Voir, June 1, 2007

Impact on local tourism

Since it opened in 1997, La Cité de l'Énergie attracted hundreds of thousands of paying visitors. The park is generally open to the public each year from June to September; and to groups during other times of the year.

Footnotes

External links

Cité de l'Énergie
Amusement parks in Canada Art Deco architecture in Canada Buildings and structures in Shawinigan Industry museums in Canada Museums in Mauricie 1997 establishments in Quebec Science museums in Canada Tourist attractions in Mauricie Amusement parks opened in 1997 Observation towers in Canada {{Quebec-struct-stub

Facilities

Management

Impact on local tourism

See also

Footnotes

External links