Bersimis-2 generating station

The Bersimis-2 generating station is a dam and a run-of-the-river hydroelectric power station built by Hydro-Québec on the Betsiamites River, in Lac-au-Brochet, 66 km (41 mi) north of the town of Forestville, Quebec. Construction started in 1956 and the power station was commissioned in 1959 with an initial nameplate capacity of 655 megawatts. It is the second of two plants built by Hydro-Québec on the Betsiamites. Bersimis-2 was preceded by Bersimis-1, built 30 km (20 mi) upstream between 1953 and 1956. With upgrades and further river diversions, Bersimis-2's installed capacity has been increased over time to its current capacity of 869 megawatts. Geography The Betsiamites River, also known as the Bersimis, is located halfway between the Saguenay and Outardes rivers, on the north shore of the Saint Lawrence River, 300 km (190 mi) downstream from Quebec City. With the exception of an Innu reserve at Betsiamites, at the mouth of the river, the area is scarcely populated. The word Betsiamites or Pessamit is from the innu language and means "the assembly place of the lampreys". Bersimis was not used by either the Innus, the French or the French Canadians, but was introduced by British admiral Henry Wolsey Bayfield, in his hydrographic surveys of the Saint Lawrence River of 1837. The Hudson's Bay Company used the name when opened a trading post in 1855, as did the post office in 1863. After 2 decades of efforts, residents and the Quebec government convinced the federal government to start using Betsiamites in 1919. But administrative use of Bersimis continued for decades and Hydro-Québec used it in the 1950s to name its facility in the area. Located in the Central Laurentians ecoregion of the Boreal Shield Ecozone, the hinterland is heavily forested and dominated by softwood species: black spruce (Picea mariana), balsam fir (Abies balsamea) and white spruce (Picea glauca). In 1937, the Quebec government granted a forest concession to the Anglo Canadian Pulp & Paper Co. to supply its Forestville mill, on the coast. The area is described as "a sportsman's paradise, where fish, moose, bear and a host of other game creatures abound". Background With a continued surge of demand, electricity supplies remained a concern at Hydro-Québec and other Quebec-based utilities in the mid-1950s, but the commissioning of the first 3 units at Bersimis-1 in the last quarter of 1956 somewhat alleviated the problem. Not wanting to get caught in another potential shortage situation, company managers decided to proceed early with two more shovel ready projects: the first one was third and final phase of the Beauharnois generating station, southwest of Montreal which was made possible by the simultaneous construction of the Saint Lawrence Seaway, and Bersimis-2. The decision to build the second plant on the north shore early had the extra benefit of having both labor and equipment in place. See also Bersimis-1 generating station History of Hydro-Québec List of power stations in Quebec List of conventional hydroelectric power stations References Further reading Archambault, Jean-Jacques (1984). "Une technologie maîtrisée". In Couture, Marcel (ed.). Hydro-Québec : Des premiers défis à l'aube de l'an 2000 (in French). Montreal: Forces / Libre Expression. pp. 125–137. ISBN 2-89111-191-5. Bellavance, Claude (1994). Shawinigan Water and Power (1898-1963) : Formation et déclin d'un groupe industriel au Québec (in French). Montreal: Boréal. ISBN 2-89052-586-4. Bolduc, André; Hogue, Clarence; Larouche, Daniel (1989). Hydro-Québec, l'héritage d'un siècle d'électricité (in French) (3rd ed.). Montreal: Libre Expression. ISBN 2-89111-388-8.. Landry, Richard (February 2009). Le projet d'aménagement de la rivière Bersimis 1952-1956 (PDF) (MA Thesis) (in French). Université du Québec à Montréal. Retrieved 2010-09-14. McNaughton, W.J.W. (April 1960). "Bersimis: The Development of a River". Canadian Geographical Journal. 60 (4). Ottawa: Royal Canadian Geographical Society: 114–135. Projet de dérivation partielle de la rivière Manouane -rapport d'enquête et d'audience publique (PDF) (in French). Quebec City: Bureau d'audiences publiques sur l'environnement. 2001-09-07. ISBN 2-550-38004-5. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-09-27. Retrieved 2010-09-15.