DRAINAGE BASIN: Lake Erie
RIVER: Niagara River
NEAREST POPULATION CENTRE: Queenston, Ontario
IN SERVICE DATE: 1957/1958
NUMBER OF UNITS: 6
CAPACITY: 174 MW
CONTROL: Remote from Sir Adam Beck II
It is the only facility of its kind in Canada and is part of OPG’s clean energy portfolio which is more than 99 per cent free of greenhouse gas and smog causing emissions.
The station features a 750-acre reservoir that is pumped full of water overnight when electricity demand is low. It takes about eight hours to fill the reservoir and it can hold as much water as about 8,000 Olympic-sized swimming pools. When electricity demand is high, the stored water is used to increase flow through the station’s turbines and generate more power than would otherwise be possible. The reservoir can store the same amount of energy as one million car batteries and can displace the use of up to 600 megawatts of fossil fuel generation.
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