Ruskin Dam and Powerhouse Upgrade

Province: British Columbia

City/Region: Mission

Image Credit: BC Hydro

NR

Project Rank

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Project Type: Hydroelectric

Industry Sector: Energy

Project Amount: $748 million

Date of Completion: 2018

Funding Source: Public

Provincial Funding: BC Hydro: $748 million

Previous Rankings

201865
201762
201664
201564
201463

About The Project

The Ruskin Dam generation station has supplied power to the BC Hydro grid for almost 80 years and requires upgrades to ensure operational reliability and improve safety in the event of an earthquake. There are four major components to this project:

• The right bank of the dam is being reinforced with a specially designed cutoff wall, which will control and manage water seepage.
• Seven concrete piers and spillway gates will be removed and replaced with five new ones, and the one-lane road on top of the dam will be replaced with a twolane road.
• The powerhouse facility will be seismically upgraded and the powerhouse turbines, generators, and ancillary equipment will be upgraded or replaced (including upgrades to penstocks and intake tunnels that move water from the reservoir to the powerhouse).
• The switchyard, currently located on the roof of the powerhouse, will be rebuilt and relocated to the left bank behind the road.

The upgrades to the right bank are complete, and the replacement of the piers and spillway gates is underway. Approved by the British Columbia Utilities Commission in April 2012, construction began that year and the facility is expected to be in service in early 2018.

Engineer: BC Hydro; MWH Americas Inc.; Golder Associates (right abutment); Bogdonov Pao Associates

Contractor: Golder Construction (right abutment – Phase 2); FlatironDragados JV (upper dam and spillway gates, balance of plant)

Other Key Players: Hemmera (First Nation consultation and negotiation services); McElhanney (survey/geomatics services); Pomerleau

Architects: RATIO Architecture Interior Design + Planning Inc.

Turbine Supplier: Voith Hydro

Other Suppliers: HMI Construction (spillway gates), COH (powerhouse crane), Fortune Electric (generator step-up transformers), ABB (exciters), L&S Electric of Canada (governors)

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