BC Hydro completes major upgrade of Peace Canyon facility
VANCOUVER – BC Hydro has completed a significant refurbishment of one of the province's most important electricity generating stations on time and on budget. The successful $120-million Peace Canyon Generating Station refurbishment will allow the plant to continue providing trouble-free service for the next twenty to thirty years.
"This is a major investment in a heritage asset and in our province's clean energy future," said Blair Lekstrom, Minister of Energy, Mines and Petroleum Resources. "The Peace Canyon facility provides enough electricity to power approximately 300,000 homes. Extending the life of this heritage asset is a cost-effective way of helping British Columbia achieve our Energy Plan goal of becoming electricity self-sufficient by 2016."
"We are very proud of this achievement," said Bob Elton, BC Hydro President and CEO. "Through the execution of vigorous project controls we were able to complete the refurbishment on time, approximately $6 million under budget, and with no time lost to accidents – an impressive safety accomplishment – so it's a great success on all fronts." The Peace Canyon Generating Station refurbishment included replacing the stators, upgrading the rotors, and overhauling the turbines of the plant's four units. The work began in May of 2006 and created approximately 120 person years of employment over the course of the project.
Peace Canyon is the fourth largest hydro generating station in the province and is a critical component of the BC Hydro system, providing an average annual clean energy generation of 3,111 gigawatt hours and a generating capacity of 700 megawatts.
Construction of the 50-metre high Peace Canyon Dam began in July of 1974, and the first unit came into service in April of 1980. The dam creates the Dinosaur Reservoir on the Peace River approximately 23 kilometres downstream from BC Hydro's GM Shrum Generation Station.
Contact:
Dag Sharman
Media Relations
Phone: 604 623 4022