Construction of a new generating station in eastern Ontario is now underway.

Ontario Power Generation (OPG) announced plans to rebuild the 5MW facility in Calabogie—which is about 100 kilometres west of Ottawa—after the century-old powerhouse was damaged by a tornado in 2018.

A new higher-capacity powerhouse, which will increase output to nearly 11MW, is being built about 50 metres upstream from the original facility. The building is expected to come into service in 2022, and the value of the construction project is approximately $180 million.

OPG selected a joint venture of designers SNC-Lavalin and builders M Sullivan & Son to perform the work in mid-2019. Workers from local First Nations have also been hired to work as carpenters, operators, labourers and truck drivers.

The new, two-unit power station being constructed will draw even more power from the Madawaska River on which it is situated. As per OPG’s plan for the project, more water will be drawn from a redesigned forebay—the pool of water that feeds into the station—and sent through the powerhouse. Capacity at the station will increase from 66 cubic metres per second to 160 cubic metres per second. Water levels and flows are also not expected to change as per the existing Water Management Plan.

“The whole site has had to be redeveloped for this rebuild. It’s so much more than just a building,” said Ontario Power Generation renewable generation division project manager Kevin Kaczmarczyk. “We had to make sure all the hydraulic conditions are satisfied, and the entire forebay had to be reshaped and opened up.”

Construction crews performed some preparatory work for the site earlier this year, including widening and strengthening roadways for dump trucks and clearing the site of vegetation, and preparing the old, damaged powerhouse to act as a barrier to keep the new site dry.

OPG also stated that there will not be any flooding associated with the rebuild and the overall footprint of the new site will remain on 10 hectares of area.