Site C Dam, Diversion Tunnels

The project design for the Site C Clean Energy Project includes the following key components:

• Access roads in the vicinity of the site and a temporary construction access bridge across the Peace River at the dam site.
• Construction of two temporary cofferdams across the main river channel to allow for construction of the earthfill dam.
• Worker accommodation at the dam site, with other workers being housed off site and in the region.
• The realignment of six segments of Highway 29 over a total distance of 30 kilometres.
• Shoreline protection at Hudson’s Hope.
• Two new 500 kilovolt AC transmission lines that will connect the Site C facilities to the existing Peace Canyon Substation, along an existing right-of-way.
• An 800-metre roller-compacted-concrete buttress to enhance seismic protection.
• An earthfill dam, approximately 1,050 metres long and 60 metres high above the riverbed.
• A generating station with six 183 MW generating units.
• An 83-kilometre-long reservoir that will be, on average, two to three times the width of the current river.
• Site C will provide 1,100 megawatts of capacity, and produce about 5,100 gigawatt hours of electricity each year — enough energy to power the equivalent of about 450,000 homes or 1.7 million electric vehicles per year in B.C.
• It will be a source of clean and renewable electricity for more than 100 years.
• Site C will have among the lowest GHG emissions, per gigawatt hour, compared to other resource options.
• As the third project on the Peace River, Site C will rely on the existing Williston Reservoir for water storage. This means Site C will generate about 35 per cent of the energy produced at the W.A.C. Bennett Dam, with only five per cent of the reservoir area.
• Site C will be among the most cost-effective resource options for our ratepayers.
• Site C will create about 13,000 person-years of direct employment during construction.
• Construction also provides significant opportunities for businesses of all sizes.
• Construction will contribute $3.2 billion to provincial GDP, including approximately $130 million to regional GDP.
• During construction, Site C will result in a total of $40 million in tax revenues to local governments and, once in operation, $2 million in revenue from grants-in-lieu and school taxes.
• Site C will be a source of affordable power to meet B.C.’s future electricity needs, and we expect to require the energy and capacity from Site C by about 2030.