The Rankine Generating Station is a former hydro-electric generating station along the

Canadian Canadians () are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being ''C ...

side of the

Niagara River The Niagara River ( ) flows north from Lake Erie to Lake Ontario, forming part of the border between Ontario, Canada, to the west, and New York, United States, to the east. The origin of the river's name is debated. Iroquoian scholar Bruce T ...

Niagara Falls, Ontario Niagara Falls is a city in Ontario, Canada, adjacent to, and named after, Niagara Falls. As of the Canada 2021 Census, 2021 census, the city had a population of 94,415. The city is located on the Niagara Peninsula along the western bank of the ...

, slightly downstream from the older Toronto Power Generating Station. It was built in for the Canadian Niagara Power Company and named for company's founder William Birch Rankine (b. 1858), a New York City (and later of Niagara Falls) lawyer originally from

Geneva, New York Geneva is a City (New York), city in Ontario County, New York, Ontario and Seneca County, New York, Seneca counties in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. It is at the northern end of Seneca Lake (New York), Seneca Lake; all land port ...

who died three days after (in Grafton, New Hampshire) the station opened in 1905 and renamed in 1927. Acquired by

Niagara Mohawk Power Corporation Niagara Mohawk Power Corporation was a New York State utility company, which was acquired in 2000 by National Grid plc. The Niagara Mohawk Power Corporation designation was retired, using variations of NationalGridUS (such as National Grid Buffa ...

in 1950 and in 2002, the station became a wholly owned subsidiary of FortisOntario (and part of Canadian owned

Fortis Inc. Fortis Inc. is a Canadian electric utility holding company, based in St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador. It operates in Canada, the United States, Central America and the Caribbean. In 2015, it earned . Fortis was formed in 1987, when shareho ...

). It was decommissioned in 2006. It reopened in July 2021 as a museum.

Generating capacity

The facility, also known as The Canadian Niagara Power Generating Station, contained eleven vertical axle, 25 Hertz generators rated at 8320 kVA each for a total generating capacity of 100 MVA. When opening in 1905, the plant was equipped with only five turbines and generators. The generators were based on a design by

Nikola Tesla Nikola Tesla (;"Tesla"
. ''Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary''. ; 10 July 1856 – 7 ...

. Peak capacity was achieved in 1924 when additional 25-cycle generator units were installed. The mechanism consisted of "11 vertical steel shafts, each running from a turbine in the deep pit to a generator 130 feet above". Power was transmitted to a transformer station in another Niagara Falls, Ontario location via underground cables. A September 2019 report provided these additional specifics:

Housing 11 vertical penstocks, water from the Niagara River would enter through the forebay and drop 180 ft (54.8 metres) before being expelled into a 2,000 ft (609.6 metres) tunnel that emptied into the lower Niagara River, right at the base of the Horseshoe Falls.

The station was licensed to generate a maximum of 76.4MW of 25 Hz AC current using its eleven generators. By the 1950s, most other Ontario power plants were producing 60 Hz power but this station was allowed to continue at 25 Hz since there was adequate demand.

Station closure

By 2003, the plant was no longer used constantly and was providing power on demand, typically on week days. In 2005, the station ceased operation and was officially decommissioned the following year. The

Beaux-Arts architecture Beaux-Arts architecture ( , ) was the academic architectural style taught at the in Paris, particularly from the 1830s to the end of the 19th century. It drew upon the principles of French neoclassicism, but also incorporated Renaissance and ...

station was handed over to the

Niagara Parks Commission The Niagara Parks Commission, commonly shortened to Niagara Parks, is an agency of the Government of Ontario which maintains the Ontario shoreline of the Niagara River. History The Commission was founded in 1885 and charged with preserving an ...

in 2009. Reasons for the closure were: * The station produced 25 Hz power, and would have needed to be retrofitted to the North American standard of 60 Hz * The turbines and generators had drifted out of alignment due to movement of the rock on which the station was built In 2009 Rankine station's water rights, along with those of two other nearby generating stations, were reallocated to the Sir Adam Beck stations a few kilometres downstream (see also Niagara Tunnel Project).

Re-opening as a tourism site

Photographs and video clips published in 2012 indicated that much of the interior of the plant was in excellent condition. In October 2019, the Niagara Parks Commission publicized plans to re-open the facility in 2021 as a historic industrial site for the purposes of tourism. A report by a journalist who visited the station indicated that the interior remained pristine, with generators painted blue and "doors and enormous hinges made of copper, mosaic tile floors, a beautiful clock at one end of the main hall, marble control panels with old school switches that date to the 1920s, and fittings and other instruments".

William B. Rankine Generating Station Bridge

William B. Rankine Generating Station Bridge is a five span stone arch bridge that cross the water inlet to the power station north of Fraser Hill. The main bridge carries traffic on Niagara Parkway and smaller pedestrian bridge is located at the mouth of the outlet on the shores of the Niagara River. The bridge was rehabilitated in a project that ran from 2012 to 2014; it now has four wide traffic lanes and a separate pedestrian lane.

References

External links

Niagara Parks Power Station
at

Tunnel at Niagara Parks Power Station

Atlas Obscura ''Atlas Obscura'' is an United States, American-based travel and exploration company. It was founded in 2009 by author Joshua Foer and documentary filmmaker/author Dylan Thuras. It catalogs unusual and obscure travel destinations via professiona ...

, 2023
Digital Images of the Canadian Niagara Power Plant
Niagara Falls Public Library (Ont.)
The William B. Rankine Generating Station of the Canadian Niagara Power Company

Canadian Niagara Power Company Fonds RG 170
Brock University Library Digital Repository {{coord, 43.0745, N, 79.0787, W, display=title
Canadian Niagara Power Company Glass Slides
Brock University Library Digital Repository Buildings and structures in Niagara Falls, Ontario Hydroelectric power stations in Ontario 1905 establishments in Ontario 2006 disestablishments in Ontario Rankine Generating Station Bridge Former hydroelectric power stations Niagara Parks Commission Former power stations in Canada