The last of seven units have been commissioned at Canada’s newest hydroelectric power station, the Keeyask Generation Project. This is a significant achievement for the project and the Bechtel-led team, which includes Barnard Construction Company and EllisDon.
The project, located in Manitoba, Canada, is a critical component in supplying 4,400 gigatonnes of clean, safe, and reliable energy each year, enough to power approximately 400,000 homes.
“Keeyask has created jobs and opportunities for thousands of people since construction began in 2014,” said Dave Bowen, Manitoba Hydro’s director of Project Management.
“As the fourth largest generation station in Manitoba, it will supply reliable, renewable power to our customers’ homes and businesses for decades to come, virtually carbon-free.”
The project consists of a seven-unit powerhouse connected to a seven-gate spillway on the south side of Gull Rapids by three dams. There are 23 kilometers of dykes on the north and south sides, with a total reservoir area of about 93 square kilometers.
The project’s difficulties were exacerbated by the weather, topography, and pandemic. At a project site 10 degrees south of the Arctic Circle, the power station was designed to harness energy from a river with a per-cubic-meters-per-second volume twice that of Niagara Falls.
Winter temperatures in the area may fall below -40o C. The project’s execution was made possible by its dedicated team, which included over 9,000 construction workers over the course of the project, as well as the use of innovative logistics measures and tools, such as the placement of extreme-cold-weather concrete during the winter months.
All of the sand, rock, and clay required for the project was mined on-site, including the 334,000 m3 of concrete required for the spillway and powerhouse structures.
“It is more important than ever before to consider how we generate electricity. The Keeyask Generation Project overcame numerous engineering challenges, including balancing difficult construction conditions with stringent environmental regulations “said Kelvin Sims, Americas Infrastructure General Manager at Bechtel.
“This impressive project was possible through ingenuity and tenacity of people that contributed to its completion.”
The Keeyask Generation project is a collaborative effort between Manitoba Hydro and the Keeyask Cree Nations, a partnership of four First Nations: Tataskweyak Cree Nation, War Lake First Nation, York Factory First Nation, and Fox Lake Cree Nation.
The generating station is situated on the Nelson River about 30 kilometers west of Gillam, in the Split Lake Resource Management Area, and within the ancestral homelands of the four partner First Nations.
Keeyask is one of the renewable and clean energy projects supported by Bechtel to help customers achieve net-zero emissions. Other projects in the United States include the Black Rock wind farm and the Cutlass solar farm, as well as floating offshore wind with Hexicon in the United Kingdom.
