The Nelson River Hydroelectric Project refers to the construction of a series of

dams A dam is a barrier that stops or restricts the flow of surface water or underground streams. Reservoirs created by dams not only suppress floods but also provide water for activities such as irrigation, human consumption, industrial use, ...

and

hydroelectric Hydroelectricity, or hydroelectric power, is Electricity generation, electricity generated from hydropower (water power). Hydropower supplies 15% of the world's electricity, almost 4,210 TWh in 2023, which is more than all other Renewable energ ...

power plants on the

Nelson River The Nelson River is a river of north-central North America, in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Manitoba. The river drains Lake Winnipeg and runs before it ends in Hudson Bay near Port Nelson, Manitoba, Port Nels ...

Northern Manitoba Northern Manitoba (also known as NorMan or Nor-Man) is a geographic and cultural region of the Canadian province of Manitoba. Manitoba originally encompassed only a small square around the Red River Colony, but it was extended north to the 60th ...

, Canada. The project began to take shape in the late 1950s, with the planning and construction of the Kelsey dam and hydroelectric power station, and later was expanded to include the diversion of the upper Churchill River into the Nelson River and the transformation of

Lake Winnipeg Lake Winnipeg () is a very large, relatively shallow lake in North America, in the Canadian province of Manitoba. Its southern end is about north of the city of Winnipeg. Lake Winnipeg is Canada's sixth-largest freshwater lake and the third- ...

, the world's 11th largest freshwater lake, into a hydroelectric

reservoir A reservoir (; ) is an enlarged lake behind a dam, usually built to water storage, store fresh water, often doubling for hydroelectric power generation. Reservoirs are created by controlling a watercourse that drains an existing body of wa ...

. The project is owned and operated by

Manitoba Hydro The Manitoba Hydro-Electric Board (), operating as Manitoba Hydro, is the electric power and natural gas public utility, utility in the province of Manitoba, Canada. Founded in 1961, it is a provincial Crown Corporation, governed by the Manitoba ...

, the electrical utility in the province.

Overview

Several sites on the Nelson River, with potential of millions of horsepower, had been identified as early as 1911, but transmission of power to population centres in the south was beyond the state of the art of electric power transmission at that time. Between 1955 and 1960, studies were carried out to determine what resources would be available for future hydraulic generation in Manitoba. The stations at Kelsey, Kettle, Long Spruce and Limestone were built on the lower Nelson River to support both Manitoba load growth and export plans. Limestone, the largest generating station in Manitoba, is on the Lower Nelson only 90 km from

Hudson Bay Hudson Bay, sometimes called Hudson's Bay (usually historically), is a large body of Saline water, saltwater in northeastern Canada with a surface area of . It is located north of Ontario, west of Quebec, northeast of Manitoba, and southeast o ...

. Long-term firm power sales contracts were signed with

Northern States Power Company Northern States Power Company () was a publicly traded S&P 500 electric and natural gas utility holding company based in Minneapolis, Minnesota, that is now a subsidiary of Xcel Energy (). History The company's founder, Henry Marison Byllesby, ha ...

Minneapolis, Minnesota Minneapolis is a city in Hennepin County, Minnesota, United States, and its county seat. With a population of 429,954 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the state's List of cities in Minnesota, most populous city. Locat ...

. Control dams and excavated channels have transformed

into a 25,000 km² reservoir for the Nelson hydroelectric system. The great distance between generating sites on the Nelson River and load centres in southern Manitoba required the use of

high-voltage direct current A high-voltage direct current (HVDC) electric power transmission system uses direct current (DC) for electric power transmission, in contrast with the more common alternating current (AC) transmission systems. Most HVDC links use voltages betwe ...

(HVDC)

electric power transmission Electric power transmission is the bulk movement of electrical energy from a generating site, such as a power plant, to an electrical substation. The interconnected lines that facilitate this movement form a ''transmission network''. This is ...

lines to bring the energy to market. When these lines began operation as the Nelson River Bipole in 1972, they were the longest and highest-voltage direct current lines in the world. The Dorsey converter station is 26 km northwest of

Winnipeg Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Manitoba. It is centred on the confluence of the Red River of the North, Red and Assiniboine River, Assiniboine rivers. , Winnipeg h ...

, Manitoba.

Generating stations

Churchill River diversion

One of the key elements of the Nelson project was the diversion of much of the Churchill River into the Nelson watershed. The Churchill River originates in northern Alberta and drains into Hudson Bay at

Churchill, Manitoba Churchill is a subarctic port town in northern Manitoba, Canada, on the west shore of Hudson Bay, roughly from the Manitoba–Nunavut border. It is most famous for the many polar bears that move toward the shore from inland in the autumn, leadi ...

. Currently the Missi Falls Control Structure () at the mouth of South Indian Lake reduces the flow of the Churchill River to 15% of its natural flow. This causes South Indian Lake to rise , as opposed to the envisioned in the original plan. The diverted water flows through the South Bay Diversion Channel into the Rat River, which is in the Nelson River watershed. The outflow of Rat River into the Burntwood and subsequently Nelson River is controlled by the Notigi Control Structure.() Before the construction of the diversion, the Manitoba portion of the Churchill River was estimated to have 3

gigawatts The watt (symbol: W) is the unit of power or radiant flux in the International System of Units (SI), equal to 1 joule per second or 1 kg⋅m2⋅s−3. It is used to quantify the rate of energy transfer. The watt is named in honor o ...

of hydroelectric potential. The river was however further north than the Nelson River, thus further from the major users of power in southern Manitoba. Jointly harnessing the water increased the flow of the Nelson River by 40%, while the flow of the Burntwood River is now 9 times pre-diversion levels. In 1973 Manitoba Hydro was granted an interim licence to divert of water from the Churchill River. Construction began the same year and finished in 1976. Diversion began 9 September 1976 with full planned potential reached on 20 August 1977.

New projects

* ''New Hydraulic Generation (Keeyask, Conawapa, Notigi) and HVDC Transmission.'': Studies are continuing to permit eventual construction of new generating projects along the

. The Keeyask (formerly Gull) station will have a capacity of approximately 630 megawatts. Final design and construction have started. The 1380 megawatt Conawapa project was initiated but postponed indefinitely in 1992 when

Ontario Hydro Ontario Hydro, established in 1906 as the Hydro-Electric Power Commission of Ontario, was a publicly owned electricity utility in the Province of Ontario. It was formed to build transmission lines to supply municipal utilities with electricity ge ...

elected not to purchase firm energy from Manitoba. Planning activities are continuing, but no construction commitment has been made and no environmental hearings are currently scheduled. The in-service date would be after that for Keeyask, with current estimated load growth requiring first power in 2021. The station at Notigi would be rated approximately 100 megawatts, but no in-service date has been set for this project. More than 5000 MW of hydroelectric potential could be developed in Manitoba, which includes 1380 MW at the Conawapa site, 630 MW at the Keeyask site, and 1000 MW at the Gillam Island site, all on the lower Nelson river. Other sites have been assessed but are not currently under study for development. All of these developments would require a large increase in electric power exports, since Manitoba load growth will not require this capacity for a generation or more. All of these projects require additional HVDC transmission capacity from the North to the South. One such project, Bipole III, had been discussed with communities on the east side of Lake Winnipeg, but this area has been reserved by the provincial government, making transmission line construction infeasible. The government and Manitoba Hydro have currently rerouted Bipole III through the west side of Manitoba and construction has begun as of 2012.

Controversies and issues

Like any other large-scale activity, the Nelson River Hydroelectric Project has not been without controversy. In 1976, the Churchill River diversion project was set into operation. Flow was diverted by a series of channels and control structures into the Nelson River. Instead of developing hydroelectric sites along the Churchill River, water was diverted by control structures and an artificial channel into the Nelson, thereby increasing flow and saving cost of development. The effects of this diversion on pre-existing water levels and the indigenous

Cree The Cree, or nehinaw (, ), are a Indigenous peoples of the Americas, North American Indigenous people, numbering more than 350,000 in Canada, where they form one of the country's largest First Nations in Canada, First Nations. They live prim ...

and

Métis The Métis ( , , , ) are a mixed-race Indigenous people whose historical homelands include Canada's three Prairie Provinces extending into parts of Ontario, British Columbia, the Northwest Territories and the northwest United States. They ha ...

people continue to be felt to this day. Negotiations between the affected Northern communities and Manitoba Hydro continue, to discuss mitigation measures and compensation for loss of traditional resource areas and sites. The water level of Lake Winnipeg is now regulated by Manitoba Hydro as part of the energy generation operations. Some property owners on the southern edge of the lake feel that the levels are now maintained at a higher average level than would be natural, and attribute erosion of their property to the lake level. Manitoba Hydro has pointed out that the regulation project also allows lake level to be lowered, such as during the 1997 floods, thereby preventing significant property damage. Although development of the Nelson River system was intended to secure a reliable source of low-cost energy to promote industrial development in Manitoba, such development was not forthcoming. Concerns about the magnitude and cost of Hydro development led the provincial government to start an inquiry into the management of the company. The ''Commission of Inquiry into Manitoba Hydro'' reported in 1979 that Manitoba Hydro had not developed resources in the lowest-cost and most efficient way, and made many recommendations for the governance of Manitoba Hydro.G. E. Tritschler ''Commission of Inquiry into Manitoba Hydro Final Report December 1979''

Notes

References

*Bateman, Leonard A. ''The Nelson River - An Energy Source'', paper presented to the 89th Annual Congress of the Engineering Institute of Canada, October 1975 * *

External links

Manitoba Hydro corporate site

(A CBC report)

(Manitoba Wildlands website)
Manitoba Hydro Bipole III
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