Construction of Pingston Hydroelectric Plant

J. Ross Keating
Canadian Hydro Developers, Inc, Calgary, AB

Pingston Creek is a tributary of the Columbia River located near Revelstoke in British Columbia. The Pingston Hydroelectric Plant features 45 MW of capacity which generates170,000 MWh per year of green electricity. The project cost $76 million and with completion in April 2004, was over 10 years in the making. Canadian Hydro Developers, Inc of Calgary, Alberta developed and operates this facility and is 50% co-owner, along with Brascan Power.

With a vertical drop of 590 meters, this is one of the highest run-of-river plants in Canada. Buried deep in the hard rock of the mountain is a 4-kilometer tunnel, including a 450-metre raised bore, that efficiently carries water from the Pingston Creek valley down to the power generation facility on the shore of Upper Arrow Lake.

The first stage of construction involved a crew working around the clock, 7 days a week to drive a 3 X 3.5 meter tunnel, at a two percent grade, through two kilometers of rock from Pingston Creek. At the same time, a second crew was driving a lower tunnel from a location near the powerhouse.

While the tunneling teams were busy boring their way through solid rock, other crews were building the 65 kilometers of power lines, as well as constructing the penstock, powerhouse, intake and headpond. Power is generated from three Pelton turbines, which are special ‘impulse turbines', specially designed for high head applications to run efficiently, even if water flows are low.

At its peak, the Pingston project had about 60 people working on site and where possible, Canadian Hydro employed local contractors.

AAPG Search and Discovery Article #90039©2005 AAPG Calgary, Alberta, June 16-19, 2005