Day 18 – Friday August 18, 2018

Churchill Falls to Labrador City

The reason that town of Churchill Falls exists is because of water. Visionaries had the idea to use that water to create a gigantic electric power plant. That vision sprung to life starting in 1967 when they broke ground in the wilderness to create the Churchill Falls Generating Station. It is jointly by owned by Newfoundland and Labrador’s Nalcor Energy with minority partner Hydro Quebec. It generates 5.4 gigawatts of power and a total 35,000 GWh throughout the year which is almost 1% of the world’s hydroelectric generation.  At the time it was built it was the the largest civil engineering project ever undertaken in North America and the largest underground generating facility in the world. Now it’s number 2. It has a lopsided financial arrangement as Nalcor currently earns $63 million per year with Hydro Quebec earning $1.6 billion! If you have any interest in the politics and challenges of a large public works project like Churchill Falls, you can find some interesting reading online.

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