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Great Falls station celebrates 100 years of reliable operation

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Great Falls station celebrates 100 years of reliable operation

By Bruce Owen

Great Falls Generating Station, Manitoba Hydro’s second-oldest hydroelectric plant, turned 100 years old in 2023.

The station, on the Winnipeg River about 25 km north of Lac du Bonnet in Manitoba, Canada, was developed by the Winnipeg Electric Railway Company (WERCo.), an early forerunner of Manitoba Hydro. WERCo. operated the city’s electric streetcar system.

Construction began on the Great Falls station in 1914 but was halted because of World War I. Construction restarted after the war in 1919, but financial constraints halted the hydropower project again until November 1921. By that time, WERCo. was on more solid footing – its profits had soared with more Winnipeggers riding streetcars after the war.

The first of the six turbine-generator units at Great Falls went into service on Jan. 3, 1923, and the second on April 4, 1923.

More than 100 years later, it’s almost a forgotten fact that the initial spark for developing renewable hydropower in Manitoba wasn’t for lighting or heating but for public transportation —  electric streetcars

Great Falls Generating Station was an inductee into the Hydro Hall of Fame in 2023. Lignum Vitae North America was the sponsor for the 2023 Hydro Hall of Fame. This article discusses the history, and future, of this important hydropower facility.

Hydro Hall of Fame

Build it and they will come

Sure, it’s a cliché, but in the early 1920s, “Build it and they will come” could have been WERCo.’s motto.

And it was pretty simple: WERCo. would extend its streetcar lines to Winnipeg’s fledgling suburbs as long as those communities agreed to long-term deals to buy electricity from WERCo. for their homes and businesses, and for their communities to prosper and grow.

WERCo’s shareholders smiled all the way to the bank. By the early 1920s, WERCo. had the monopoly on public transportation in a booming city. It had also ventured into heating and cooking gas manufacturing and distribution. And it was the only game in town for far-flung communities like Stonewall that wanted to electrify.

And it could go even further with Great Falls, its second hydro plant on the Winnipeg River. WERCo. had built the Pinawa Generating Station in 1906, the first hydroelectric plant on the Winnipeg River. By the 1920s, Pinawa was maxed out. (Pinawa was shut down in 1951 to allow the new Seven Sisters Generating Station to use the water more effectively.)

By 1922, WERCo. saw cheap hydropower as the quickest way to bring more prosperity to a growing city and fatten its shareholder dividends. WERCo. couldn’t build Great Falls fast enough. 

First power fast

Under its subsidiary the Winnipeg River Power Company Ltd., WERCo. told its contractors they needed first power from Great Falls by the winter of 1922-1923. The rallying cry to get the first unit in service was “Running by Christmas,” and a large sign hung in the powerhouse to encourage the 2,000 workers.

It worked. Great Falls was built in record speed, a huge feat given the only access for construction materials and supplies to maintain the workforce was by rail.

By the time the first two units started producing electricity, WERCo. had extended its streetcar lines to Selkirk, Stonewall, Headingley and St. Norbert and had secured exclusive deals to supply electricity and street lighting to these communities. WERCo. forecasted the output of the first two generating units at Great Falls would be consumed with the first year of operation.

WERCo. also shortened its name to the Winnipeg Electric Company in April 1924 to reflect it was now in the business of generating and distributing electricity.

The third unit at Great Falls went into service on Nov. 29, 1926, to supply power to the newly built paper mill in Pine Falls. The final three units were added by Nov. 4, 1928, as demand for electricity continued to grow.

McLimont magic

If there’s one person who was responsible for the rapid development of Great Falls, and the turn-around success of the Winnipeg Electric Company after World War I, it was Andrew Wyndgate McLimont, who joined the company in 1917 as general manager and succeeded Sir Augustus Nanton as president.

The scope of growth under McLimont did not escape Winnipeg Electric Company shareholders.

Speaking at a swanky dinner on Oct. 1, 1927, at the Royal Alexandra Hotel, to mark the 10th anniversary of McLimont joining the company, Winnipeg Electric Company director J.B. Coyne said: “In 1917, the year Mr. McLimont came here, the output of electricity was 141,229,800 kilowatt hours. In other words, the Company and its associated enterprise, the Manitoba Power Company Ltd., will sell as much electricity this year in three months as was sold throughout the whole of the year 1917.”

McLimont also spoke at the dinner – oyster cocktails, green turtle au sherry and “tenderloin of beef” were on the menu – and said the power from Great Falls would soon be used up and that an even larger plant on the Winnipeg River would be needed.

“No misguided opposition to active and progressive policies can deter us in our determination to assist in the growth and development of this country,” McLimont thundered. “Sound constructive analysis of our policies will always be welcomed but carping critics and progress blockers must be ignored.”

McLimont left the company in 1928. He died in the U.S. state of Florida in July 1951 at age 81.

Great Falls was extensively updated starting in 1979. Work performed included replacement of the spillway structure and west non-overflow dam, sealing of powerhouse cracks, reinforcement of the station’s headgates, and significant upgrades to many other mechanical and electrical control systems for improved reliability and longevity.

The station is the second largest plant on the Winnipeg River after 164 MW Seven Sisters Generating Station, also developed by the Winnipeg Electric Company – just as McLimont had said – in two stages between 1929 and 1952. Great Falls has an output capacity of 129 MW and annual generation of 750 million kWh. ​​​​​​​

Today, Great Falls serves as the base for all of Manitoba Hydro’s Winnipeg River operations.

And the Winnipeg Electric Company? It prospered until 1952, when its generating stations and distribution assets were purchased by the Manitoba Hydro-Electric Board, created by the government of the province in 1949 to coordinate the development and operation of all electrical generating and transmission facilities in Manitoba. With Manitoba’s economy in an upswing after World War II and rural electrification going full steam, Manitoba’s energy demands needed to be managed by one public authority for the benefit of all.  

At the same time, Winnipeg Electric transferred its gas and transit assets to two newly incorporated companies: gas assets to Greater Winnipeg Gas and transit assets to the Greater Winnipeg Transit Company.

In 1961, the Manitoba Hydro we know today was created when the Manitoba Hydro-Electric Board merged with the Manitoba Power Commission, which was responsible for rural transmission and power distribution.

Great Falls will continue to serve an important role in Manitoba Hydro’s energy portfolio as a reliable source of clean, renewable hydroelectricity for decades to come.

Bruce Owen is media relations officer with Manitoba Hydro.

Editor’s Note: The 2024 inductees into the Hydro Hall of Fame will be announced July 17 at HYDROVISION International in Denver, Colo., U.S., during the opening keynote session.