Site C dam begins generating power after years of construction and controversy

After years of controversy and construction, British Columbia’s Site C dam has begun generating power.

BC Hydro said Monday that the first of six generating units at the hydroelectric dam on the Peace River in northeastern B.C. has been activated.

It says five additional generating units will come online one at a time over the next year, with the dam fully activated by fall 2025.

Each generating unit can produce more than 180 megawatts of power.

The complete dam will have a generating capacity of about 1,100 megawatts and produce an estimated 5,100 gigawatt hours of electricity annually, boosting the grid’s capacity by about eight per cent.

BC Hydro said the dam’s reservoir is now more than 90 per cent full, with water level about 40 metres (131 feet) higher than when it started.

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The Crown corporation expects the reservoir to be fully filled by late fall, but said people should stay well away from the area for at least a year due to potential hazards, including slope stability and debris in the water.

The dam’s activation marks a major milestone in a project that was first proposed nearly 70 years ago.

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Proposals for the project were shelved in the 1980s but revived under the former BC Liberal government, which announced it would build the dam in 2010 and formally gave it the green light in 2014.

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Construction began in 2015 amid major opposition from local landowners, environmental groups and local First Nations.

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The election of the BC NDP put the project’s future in question until then-premier John Horgan announced in late 2017 that his government would complete the dam.

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In 2021, the NDP revealed the dam’s completion would be delayed by a year, and that costs had risen to $16 billion, up from a prior estimate of $10.7 billion and nearly triple its original estimate of $6.6 billion.