Muskrat Falls HYDROPOWER PROJECT ON ITS WAY
Labrador’s Muskrat Falls hydropower project has started construction. Intended to benefit the Canadian provinces of Newfoundland/ Labrador and Nova Scotia, two dams are being built on the lower Churchill River in
Labrador, below an older dam operated by the government of Quebec. Nalcor Energy, Labrador’s government-owned energy corporation, expects that with the dams the province will be able to meet 98% of its energy
of the power generated to meet the province’s electricity needs and sell 20% to Emera Inc. for the island of Nova Scotia. Nalcor also expects that the electricity will stimulate industrial growth in Labrador, which will need a projected 80% of the dam’s power by 2036. That leaves 40% for export for the next 20 years.
Exporting
more electricity
will help the government of Canada to meet its international climate change commitments by reducing the need for coal and tar sands crude oil, both of which are heavy contributors to carbon dioxide and methane in the air. And it will help to fuel the electric cars being manufactured and increasingly purchased in the United States (including the Tesla Model 3 released this year). In Newfoundland and Labrador, Muskrat Falls will power homes and businesses for generations to come. It will also allow the government to shut down an old oil-fired generation station to reduce its own carbon emissions. The plant is being built to last more than 100 years, providing stable electricity rates well into the future.
needs from renewable sources.
Plant Construction
Not only will the project provide much needed electricity to the region, but it will also provide enough to sell to markets in Atlantic Canada and New England. Nalcor expects to use 40%
The Muskrat Falls hydroelectric project was sanctioned by the government of Newfoundland/Labrador in December of 2012 and will take an estimated five years to complete. Eventually it will produce enough
power 1.5 million homes. The of an 824 megawatt facility an of associated transmission line needed to operate the facility stations, grounding stations an world twice.
Nalcor approached this mass loading approach,” with inten work early on to minimized pro process. The upfront work inc measurement, followed by c physical modeling of the propo a scale model and conducted o hydroelectric flow would work a three engineering firms to desig to be the highest quality turbine
The largest part of the proje
intake, and gated spillway - No subsidiary of Italy’s Astaldi, at an It will take four years for that completed. Norcal also awarde Andritz Hydro to supply seven
Other contractors working on t Civil Ltd. supplying civil engi supplying conductors, Locke line construction, and ALSTO installation of synchronous construction process also is IB non-profit labour union of elec is promoting their code of exce meeting deadlines.
According to the project’s overs well. “We are nearing the end of and we continue to make stea project,” said Gilbert Bennett, “Construction began in early 20
e project includes construction nd more than 1,500 kilometres es. Some of the infrastructure includes switchyards, converter nd enough guy wire to wrap the
sive project using a “front-end nsive engineering and design oblems later in the construction cluded onsite investigation and computer modeling and then osed plant setup. Engineers built over 200 tests to make sure the as envisioned. Nalcor also hired gn and test turbines, conceived es built in North America.
ect -
the plant’s powerhouse, rcal contracted to the Canadian n estimated cost of $962 million. part of the construction to be ed a contract for $170 million to turbines and generator units.
the project are Pennecon Heavy ineering services, Midal Cable e’s Electrical Ltd carrying out OM Renewable Power handling condensers. Included in the BEW International of Canada, a ctric power professionals, which ellence to workers on safety and
seers, construction is progressing f our third full year of construction ady progress in all areas of the , Vice President of the project. 013 and today construction and
manufacturing is ongoing in more than 100 locations across the province and around the world.”
Muskrat Fall Benefits to the Local Community
Nalcor Energy is committed to announcing procurement opportunities locally and has made agreements to that end, including an impact and benefits agreement with Labrador’s Innu Nation to give indigenous people
precedence in hiring, a benefits strategy with the government of Newfoundland/Labrador, and a memorandum of understanding between the governments of Newfoundland/Labrador and Nova Scotia.
The construction stage has already generated significant employment opportunities, with more than 3,000 jobs offered last year (2015). It is expected to infuse an estimated $1.9 billion into labour and businesses in Newfoundland and Labrador, along with $2.2 billion in the other three provinces of Atlantic Canada, and an estimated $4.7 billion across the rest of Canada. Once construction is complete and the plant is operational, Muskrat Falls expects to provide around 1,500 direct jobs per year, spread across more than 70 occupations, with more than half of those in Labrador. Youth of the Innu Nation are already preparing themselves to be hired by the facility, once it is operational. Nalcor estimates that $450 million will be infused annually into the local economy. The Muskrat Falls project is supporting the local community in other ways too, providing anti-bullying education in schools, organising pancake breakfast fundraisers for the homeless, fundraising and sponsoring youth sports teams and leadership training projects, as well as canoeing and golf competitions, and promoting good health, local conservation, and cultural events. By 2017 when the plant goes into operation, Muskrat Falls will be increasing prosperity in the region. In addition to having its own electricity, the government will have electricity to sell outside the region for twenty years, which will generate the financing needed to build an industrial base, which in turn will have
enough electricity to operate and will hire more local people.
t. 709.737.1440 f. 709.737.1800 e. info@nalcorenergy.com http://www.nalcorenergy.com/
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