Bersimis-1 generating station

The Bersimis-1 generating station is a dam and a hydroelectric power station built by Hydro-Québec in conjunction with Perini, Atlas and Cartier construction companies on the Betsiamites River, in Lac-au-Brochet, 85 km (53 mi) north of the town of Forestville, Quebec. Construction started in 1953 and the power station was commissioned in 1956 with an initial nameplate capacity of 912 megawatts. It is the first plant ever built by Hydro-Québec and it has been described as a turning point in the history of electricity in province, paving the way for the takeover of all private utilities by the government-owned corporation in 1963. Three years later, the first plant was followed by a second one, built 30 km (20 mi) downstream. Bersimis-2 entered service in 1959. With upgrades, a major overhaul in the 1990s and further river diversions, Bersimis-1 installed capacity has been increased over time to its current 1,178 megawatts.

The Betsiamites River, also known as the Bersimis, is located halfway between the Saguenay and Outardes rivers, on the north shore of the Saint Lawrence River, 300 km (190 mi) downstream from Quebec City. With the exception of an Innu reserve at Betsiamites, at the mouth of the river, the area is scarcely populated. The word Betsiamites or Pessamit is from the innu language and means "the assembly place of the lampreys". Bersimis was not used by either the Innus, the French or the French Canadians, but was introduced by British admiral Henry Wolsey Bayfield, in his hydrographic surveys of the Saint Lawrence River of 1837. The Hudson's Bay Company used the name when opened a trading post in 1855, as did the post office in 1863. After 2 decades of efforts, residents and the Quebec government convinced the federal government to start using Betsiamites in 1919. But administrative use of Bersimis perdured for decades and Hydro-Québec used it in the 1950s to name its facility in the area. Located in the Central Laurentians ecoregion of the Boreal Shield Ecozone, the hinterland is heavily forested and dominated by softwood species: black spruce (Picea mariana), balsam fir (Abies balsamea) and white spruce (Picea glauca). In 1937, the Quebec government granted a forest concession to the Anglo Canadian Pulp & Paper Co. to supply its Forestville mill, on the coast. The area is described as "a sportsman's paradise, where fish, moose, bear and a host of other game creatures abound". The river is well suited for hydroelectric development. The river falls 373 m (1,224 ft) over 160 km (100 mi), between Lake Pipmuacan, and the delta, including an initial drop of 213 m (700 ft) on the first 30 km (20 mi). The site was also ideal because the river flow could be controlled very easily at the outlet of Lac Cassé. More development was also possible at a second location, approximately 30 km (20 mi) downstream, to capitalize from a further 113 m (370 ft) drop. The second site was developed between 1956 and 1959 and came to be known as Bersimis-2.

The post-war boom in Quebec created an unprecedent increase in electricity demand in Quebec. Planners, at Hydro-Québec and other public utilities serving the province, were kept busy looking for ways to increase supply. In the Montreal area, the addition of 12 more units at the Beauharnois generating station would not be sufficient to meet the steady increase in demand as early as 1956. Quebec's largest private utility faced the same problem. Although the Shawinigan Water & Power Company (SWP) added units at its Rapide-Blanc and La Tuque facilities while building the brand new 184-MW Shawinigan-3 (1949) and the 300-MW Trenche generating station in 1953, company executives were eager to increase capacity by getting the government to award new hydraulic concessions on undeveloped rivers. SWP s

Power station data from Wikidata (CC0). Summary from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA).