Ontario Power Company Generating Station
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The Ontario Power Company Generating Station is a former generating station located along 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 ...
in
Niagara Falls Niagara Falls is a group of three waterfalls at the southern end of Niagara Gorge, spanning the Canada–United States border, border between the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Ontario in Canada and the state of New York (s ...
, Ontario, Canada, just below the Horseshoe Falls.


Background

In 1890, the US
Niagara Falls Hydraulic Power and Manufacturing Company Niagara Falls Hydraulic Power & Manufacturing Company was an American company, based in Niagara Falls, New York that was the first company to generate hydroelectric power from Niagara Falls in 1882. The company built upon several predecessor co ...
and its subsidiary Cataract Company formed the International Niagara Commission composed of experts, to analyze proposals to harness
Niagara Falls Niagara Falls is a group of three waterfalls at the southern end of Niagara Gorge, spanning the Canada–United States border, border between the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Ontario in Canada and the state of New York (s ...
on the US/Canada border to generate power. They settled on
alternating current Alternating current (AC) is an electric current that periodically reverses direction and changes its magnitude continuously with time, in contrast to direct current (DC), which flows only in one direction. Alternating current is the form in w ...
, or AC, electricity as being the preferred transmission method and, after going through many proposals. In 1893, they awarded the generating contract to
Westinghouse Electric The Westinghouse Electric Corporation was an American manufacturing company founded in 1886 by George Westinghouse and headquartered in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It was originally named "Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Company" and was ...
with further transmission lines and transformer contracts awarded to
General Electric General Electric Company (GE) was an American Multinational corporation, multinational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate founded in 1892, incorporated in the New York (state), state of New York and headquartered in Boston. Over the year ...
. Work began in 1893 and in November 1896, power generated from Niagara Falls at the Edward Dean Adams Power Plant was being sent to
Buffalo, New York Buffalo is a Administrative divisions of New York (state), city in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York and county seat of Erie County, New York, Erie County. It lies in Western New York at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of ...
as well as the Niagara Falls plants of the
Pittsburgh Reduction Company Alcoa Corporation (an acronym for "Aluminum Company of America") is an American industrial corporation. It is the world's eighth-largest producer of aluminum. Alcoa conducts operations in 10 countries. Alcoa is a major producer of primary alu ...
which needed large quantities of cheap electricity for
smelting Smelting is a process of applying heat and a chemical reducing agent to an ore to extract a desired base metal product. It is a form of extractive metallurgy that is used to obtain many metals such as iron-making, iron, copper extraction, copper ...
aluminum.Mark Essig, Edison and the Electric Chair: A Story of Light and Death, Bloomsbury Publishing USA - 2009, page 274


Ontario Power Company

A similar set of events were happening on the Canadian side of the falls. In June 1887, recognizing an opportunity, the
Ontario Power Company John Joseph Albright (1 January 1848 Buchanan, Virginia – 20 August 1931 Buffalo, New York) was a businessman and philanthropist, and one of Buffalo's leading socialites at the turn of the 20th century. Early life Albright was born on January 1 ...
of Niagara Falls was incorporated in Canada “to supply manufacturers, corporations, and persons with water, hydraulic, electric or other power.” While its operations were in
Queen Victoria Park Queen Victoria Park is the main parkland located in Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada opposite the American and Canadian Horseshoe Falls. Established by the Niagara Falls Park Act in 1885 and opened in 1888, the park is operated by the Niagara Pa ...
in
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 ...
, its executive office was in Buffalo with the following officers: Albright, president;
Francis V. Greene Francis Vinton Greene (June 27, 1850 – May 15, 1921) was a United States Army officer who fought in the Spanish–American War. He came from the Greene family of Rhode Island, noted for its long line of participants in American military history ...
, vice-president; and Robert C. Board,
secretary A secretary, administrative assistant, executive assistant, personal secretary, or other similar titles is an individual whose work consists of supporting management, including executives, using a variety of project management, program evalu ...
and treasurer. In 1903, the Company obtained an agreement with the Commissioners of the Queen Victoria Niagara Falls Park that allowed the company to develop at least of
electricity Electricity is the set of physical phenomena associated with the presence and motion of matter possessing an electric charge. Electricity is related to magnetism, both being part of the phenomenon of electromagnetism, as described by Maxwel ...
. The company built its
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 ...
generating plant A power station, also referred to as a power plant and sometimes generating station or generating plant, is an industrial facility for the generation of electric power. Power stations are generally connected to an electrical grid. Many power s ...
, which opened in 1905, at the base of the
Horseshoe Falls Horseshoe Falls is the largest of the three waterfalls that collectively form Niagara Falls on the Niagara River along the Canada–United States border. Approximately 90% of the Niagara River, after diversions for hydropower generation, flows ...
just above river level. The plant had 15 generators, which produced of
electric power Electric power is the rate of transfer of electrical energy within a electric circuit, circuit. Its SI unit is the watt, the general unit of power (physics), power, defined as one joule per second. Standard prefixes apply to watts as with oth ...
, and was designed and built by L.L. Nunn. In 1904, Albright hired Buffalo
architect An architect is a person who plans, designs, and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...
E. B. Green to design the Beaux-Arts ''Ontario Power Company'' buildings, Murray Street at Buchanan Avenue, including the Entrance Pavilion, Spillway Building, Office & Transformer Station, Gate House, Screen House, and ‘’Ontario Power Company Generating Station’’ at river level. The hydroelectric generating plant worked by allowing water to enter the generating station from an
inlet An inlet is a typically long and narrow indentation of a shoreline such as a small arm, cove, bay, sound, fjord, lagoon or marsh, that leads to an enclosed larger body of water such as a lake, estuary, gulf or marginal sea. Overview In ...
located upstream of Niagara Falls, near the
Dufferin Islands Dufferin Islands are a group of artificial islands located 0.8 km from the Horseshoe Falls in Niagara Falls, Ontario. Before being renamed by the Niagara Parks Commission, they were known as Clarke Hill Islands and Cynthia Islands. The islands ...
, which was then brought to the plant through buried conduit pipes and steel
penstock A penstock is a sluice or gate or intake structure that controls water flow, or an enclosed pipe that delivers water to hydro turbines and sewerage systems. The term is of Scots origin, and was inherited from the earlier technology of mill pond ...
s tunnelled through the rock. The conduits, two steel and one wooden (bound with iron hoops and encased in cement), ran underground to the top of the generating station. There, each conduit connected with six penstocks, in diameter. At the point where the conduits and the penstocks join, there was a section which turned upwards into a
spillway A spillway is a structure used to provide the controlled release of water downstream from a dam or levee, typically into the riverbed of the dammed river itself. In the United Kingdom, they may be known as overflow channels. Spillways ensure tha ...
, called a
surge tank Surge means a sudden transient rush or flood, and may refer to: Science * Storm surge, the onshore flow of water associated with a low-pressure weather system * Surge (glacier), a short-lived event where a glacier can move up to velocities 100 t ...
. The surge tanks served to reduce fluctuations in heat and pressure during both the increase and decrease of loads. The open spillways sent any excess water to 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 ...
if the load suddenly reduced, which prevented any unwanted rise in pressure. From the distributing station, the
transmission line In electrical engineering, a transmission line is a specialized cable or other structure designed to conduct electromagnetic waves in a contained manner. The term applies when the conductors are long enough that the wave nature of the transmis ...
s carried power at 60,000
volt The volt (symbol: V) is the unit of electric potential, Voltage#Galvani potential vs. electrochemical potential, electric potential difference (voltage), and electromotive force in the International System of Units, International System of Uni ...
s each with a capacity of 40,000
kilowatt The watt (symbol: W) is the unit of Power (physics), 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 quantification (science), quantify the rate of Work ...
s, running over a right of way that was wide and long. This ran north to an area down the Niagara River known as
Devil's Hole Devils Hole is a geologic formation located in a detached unit of Death Valley National Park and surrounded by the Ash Meadows National Wildlife Refuge, in Nye County, Nevada, in the Southwestern United States. Devils Hole is habitat for the o ...
, where they then crossed the Niagara River into
New York State New York, also called New York State, is a state in the northeastern United States. Bordered by New England to the east, Canada to the north, and Pennsylvania and New Jersey to the south, its territory extends into both the Atlantic Ocean and ...
across a 1,300-foot-long (396 m) span. In addition to the high-tension feeders, there were approximately of lines serving
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 ...
customers at generator voltage. The power that was transmitted to New York State was then sold in bulk to Niagara Lockport and Ontario Power Company, a New York company, which was then distributed to individual customers. The largest individual consumers of power from these lines included several entities with direct ties to Albright: The
Lackawanna Steel Company The Lackawanna Steel Company was an American steel manufacturing company that existed as an independent company from 1840 to 1922, and as a subsidiary of the Bethlehem Steel company from 1922 to 1983. Founded by the Scranton family, it was once ...
, Empire State Railway,
New York Central Railroad The New York Central Railroad was a railroad primarily operating in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The railroad primarily connected New York metropolitan area, gr ...
, the Shenandoah Steel Wire Company, the Syracuse Rapid Transit Railway Company, the Lockport Gas and Electric Light Company, the
Auburn Light Heat and Power Company Auburn may refer to: Places Australia * Auburn, New South Wales * City of Auburn, the local government area *Electoral district of Auburn *Auburn, Queensland, a locality in the Western Downs Region *Auburn, South Australia * Auburn, Tasmania *Aubu ...
, the
Erie Railroad Company The Erie Railroad was a railroad that operated in the Northeastern United States, originally connecting Pavonia Terminal in Jersey City, New Jersey, with Lake Erie at Dunkirk, New York. The railroad expanded west to Chicago following its 1865 ...
, and the
Genesee County Electric Light Power and Gas Company Genesee, derived from the Seneca word for "pleasant valley", may refer to: Geographic features Canada * Genesee, Alberta, an unincorporated community United States *Genesee, California *Genesee, Colorado *Genesee County, Michigan *Genesee C ...
.


Provincial acquisition and decommissioning

The Hydro-Electric Power Commission of Ontario acquired the generating station in 1917. The plant was upgraded from 25  Hz to 60 Hz power under the supervision of Roy F. Potvin from 1972 through to 1976. The plant continued to operate until 1999 when
Ontario Power Generation Ontario Power Generation Inc. (OPG) is a Crown corporations of Canada, Crown corporation and "government business enterprise" that is responsible for approximately half of the electricity generation in the province of Ontario, Canada. It is w ...
(formerly Ontario Hydro) decommissioned the Ontario Power Company Generating Station from service in order to accommodate the construction of
Niagara Fallsview Casino Resort The Niagara Fallsview Casino Resort, commonly known as Fallsview Casino, is a resort casino located in Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada. Overlooking the Horseshoe Falls, the $1 billion complex opened to the public on June 10, 2004, and has since ...
, built on the former transformer building location. As of 2015, the 1905 Generating Station along the Niagara River edge is owned by 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 ...
, and sits abandoned.


See also

*
Rankine Generating Station The Rankine Generating Station is a former hydro-electric generating station along the Canadian side of the Niagara River in Niagara Falls, Ontario, slightly downstream from the older Toronto Power Generating Station. It was built in for the ...
*
Toronto Power Generating Station The Toronto Power Generating Station is a former generating station located along the Niagara River in Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada, slightly upstream from the newer Rankine power station. Completed in 1906 in the Beaux-Arts-style, the st ...


References


External links

{{coord, 43.08240, N, 79.07737, W, display=title Former hydroelectric power stations Hydroelectric power stations in Ontario Former power stations in Canada 1999 disestablishments in Ontario 1905 establishments in Ontario Energy infrastructure completed in 1905 Niagara River