Churchill Falls: Canada's Incredible Underground Power Station of the 1960s

"Wow. Look at this magnificent vista! Let's make a dam."
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[@Hendy2145]

VIDEO RECOMMENDATION: The Confederation Bridge connecting Prince Edward Island and New Brunswick Canada. It's the longest bridge over ice covered water in the world.

[@LennoxMatt1]

Still hoping for a video about Canada's Confederation Bridge, the longest bridge over ice covered water in the world

[@mikeross5627]

Same here! My dad worked on it. The project was insane.

[@takocorp4898]

Definition of a mega project for sure

[@nancykrause2998]

@@mikeross5627 ok poop

[@megaprojects9649]

Cool. I'll look into this! :)

[@Chancekj]

@@megaprojects9649 how about the fact that its shape was partly done to keep drivers alert so they don't fall asleep at the wheel.

[@Emitremmus29]

As a Newfie myself I would suggest a video on Muskrat falls as well, if for no other reason than as a hilarious counterpoint to the efficiency of Churchill falls construction.

[@JoeRocket-sf6qs]

“Newfie” is a derogatory term,not polite or politically correct.your the only person from N.l I have heard of to refer to yourself as such.

[@labhusky3]

Labradorian here. 100% agree Haven't checked in on Muskrat or Churchill Falls in a while, they're still shitting the bed at Muskrat eh?

[@labhusky3]

@@JoeRocket-sf6qs what. Everyone I know from Newfoundland including half my family calls themselves a Newfie. What kind of Newfoundlanders have you met?

[@anthony560]

@@JoeRocket-sf6qs Newfie is not, nor ever has been a derogatory term by any stretch of the imagination. You might need to find actual Newfie friends that aren't so sensitive.

[@mp40submachinegun81]

@@JoeRocket-sf6qs no lmao. We're newfies. Not derogatory or offensive in any way. Litterly everyone from Newfoundland refers to themselves as such. Thats like saying calling someone from ontario an ontarian is bad.

[@mirskym]

I am a retired electrical engineer from Ontario who has been involved with some of the negotiations to develop the lower Churchill (lots more power potential) in the 1990s. Those talks failed and only now it is being developed (but a real mess as I understand it is) There is lots and lots of bad blood between Quebec and Newfoundland over this first project that you reviewed. You only briefly touched on it. At the time the contract was signed, there was no place for the power to go other than the island of Newfoundland (which would need a very expensive undersea cable), Quebec or Labrador (which had no electric demand to speak of) . And Newfoundland's power needs were about 10% of the output. For technical reasons Quebec could not connect to any other province or state. So Newfoundland expected that the power was only going to Quebec. The contract allowed Newfoundland to take back certain amounts of the power during the 72 year contract, anticipating growth of demand in Newfoundland and Labrador. And the price was pretty much simply the capital cost of the station amortized over 70 years *with no inflation adjustment*. So essentially it was a cost-based not market-based price. That came out to a very low price of about a half a cent per KWh IIRC (compared to at least ten times that in today's market). But what noone expected was the 1970s energy crisis driven by the Arabian oil embargo that drove electricity costs sky high in New York state as much of their generating stations burned oil. And Quebec took advantage of changes in electric transmission technology to build a 2000 MW line to New York (I won't get into details, it involves direct current ie DC). So the Churchill Falls purchase gave them lots of power to buy and resell making huge profits. So Newfoundland wanted to renegotiate the contract. Now to be fair, Brinco was about to go bankrupt. Quebec stepped in, continued to finance the project (taking that risk as was mentioned) and spent tens of millions building power lines from Quebec to the site. So Quebec took a huge risk that paid off due to changes in the energy market that were unanticipated plus poor protection against any such changes in the contract.

[@sv1dmc12]

That's a wild back story.. Thanks for sharing!

[@crinkly.love-stick]

What I took from this was Quebec just *really* likes to be absurdly different. Having to rectify AC to DC, just to flip it back to AC? How did they mess up their grid that bad?

[@anatexis_the_first]

Very interesting, thanks! You might just be the person I need in this comment section, given your insights. Maybe you have an answer to my question? I wonder how they managed to turn a 70m drop from the original waterfall into a 300m drop in the powerplant. Did the river, once past the falls, further descend all the remaining 230m to a height that now serves as the outlet? It is the only way I can think of to accomodate the change of drop.

[@mirskym]

@@crinkly.love-stick Quebec didn't "mess up" their grid. The issue is due to the properties of AC electric systems. Because the vast majority of their hydro resources are in the far north they had to build very long very high voltage transmission lines (765 KV!) to get the power down to the south. These very long lines were such that they could deliver power to the south (eg Montreal) but if they were connected to the the Northeast grid (eg Ontario, New York) who are all connected together, giant power swings going back and forth result. An analogy would be a rubber on two pulleys; one attached to a motor turning the pulley and the other pulley attached to a rope pulling up a bucket. If the rubber band is short, no problem. But if it's very long the band will wobble all over the place, jerking the other pulley and the pail and might even break. So the solution is to build a converter station where AC comes in at one end, it is converted to DC and then back to AC at the other end where it is connected to power lines coming from New York. This isolates the two AC systems but allows power to pass in either direction.

[@mirskym]

@@anatexis_the_first Yes, you are essentially correct. The same was done at Niagara Falls where the power houses were built at an even lower elevation than the base of the falls further downstream and water was diverted above the falls to huge underground tunnels. In Churchill Falls case, I believe that the underground station is well below ground and the water is discharged further downstream where the elevation has dropped.

[@ignitionfrn2223]

1:10 - Chapter 1 - Place where the current makes clouds 2:35 - Chapter 2 - What's in a name ? 3:10 - Chapter 3 - Power station planned 4:45 - Chapter 4 - Choices, challenges & construction 8:40 - Chapter 5 - Facts & numbers 10:45 - Chapter 6 - Ongoing legal battles 11:25 - Chapter 7 - Wrap up

[@Kualinar]

That station is the reason that Hydro Québec developed the 750KV power lines. It's pretty far going from Churchill Falls to Montréal. They needed to minimize the power loss in the wires. Higher voltage mean less current needed to transmit the same power. Less current = less loss.

[@sandhilltucker]

May I recommend a video about the history of the Sears Roebuck catalog and the logistics behind it?

[@GuntherRommel]

Maybe a Sideproject, but a Megaproject? I mean.. They had houses for mail order, didn't they?

[@sandhilltucker]

Eh I used to recommend it once in a while both on here and side projects. Saw the video was released "3 minutes ago" and I really like the idea (:

[@jacobl6714]

@@sandhilltucker too bad his videos aren't something you could..........order. If only there were a catalog for such things lol *Inception Noises*

[@mcgurkg1]

Back in the 1960’s my father worked at Churchill Falls. He was a cooks assistant during the construction of the dam and power station.

[@jackfrost8854]

Worked underground a few years back and got to see one of the turbine wheels on the powerhouse floor(Looked like a giant flying saucer).It was the largest cast of stainless steel ever created(Late 1960s?).The elevator ride goes down 1000ft from an large office building(Also a service road can access underground but diesel vehicles only ).They gave us a tour of all the underground facility's(The Surge Chamber is the wildest one,walking a steel grated catwalk only connected from the rock ceiling suspended 50ft above rushing water,not for the faint of heart).

[@robswystun2766]

You should do the second largest earth moving project in the world after the Panama Canal. You'll find it running between Winnipeg and Lockport over in Manitoba. It's called the Red River Floodway. Not much to look at, but a huge undertaking that now saves a city from regularly flooding.

[@robindebreuil]

Also ahead of schedule and under budget (and paid for itself many times over with the flooding it prevented)! Not sure what happened here in Canada, but we seem to no longer be able to pull off that kind of stuff.

[@B100NL]

Truly this is one of the best channels on yt if not the best, but a 3D model or blueprint at 9:55 to help showcase how "wheels are turning" would make the quality 11/10

[@michaelgillam3475]

I love when you do Canada videos, I learn so much about my home

[@popecorkyxxiv2363]

In Canada we use so much hydroelectric power that our slang word for electricity is hydro.

[@handleymachine4421]

Doesn’t everyone call it hydro? Gawd! I’m so Canadian.

[@schizoidman9459]

Correct. 😆

[@JonMartinYXD]

Not on the prairies. This can lead to much confusion when talking to someone from out east about utilities.

[@popecorkyxxiv2363]

@@JonMartinYXD There's tons of hydroelectric plants in the prairies. Canmore, Banff, Kananaskis, Calgary, Cochrane, Athabasca, Nipawin, Elbow, Waterloo, and many others. There is nowhere in Canada that we don't have dams setup.

[@JonMartinYXD]

@@popecorkyxxiv2363 Yeah, but we don't call electricity 'hydro'. ~30% of power generated in AB, SK, and MB is hydroelectric. If you take MB out, it drops to 5.5%. At a condo AGM once, a representative of the developer was telling us owners about how the building was going to start metering 'hydro'. Literally everyone else in the room thought she was talking about charging each unit for their water usage, which would involve ripping out and replacing a lot of the plumbing in the brand new building. After much confusion we learned that she had just moved here from Ontario and was talking about metering electricity usage, which the building was already doing but not yet recording and billing. So at least if you come to Alberta or Saskatchewan - maybe Manitoba is different - and want to talk about electricity, call it electricity or 'power'.

[@alexinnewwest1860]

Suggestion The Canadian transcontinental Rail Road built by the CPR Threw harder terrain then the us version and unionized a country

[@davidnoseworthy4540]

Simon, as a challenge...try doing a Mega Projects episode on the "other" hydro-electric project in the same part of the country, Muskrat Falls, the greatest social - political debacle in the history of Newfoundland & Labrador, maybe in all of eastern Canada!

[@mountbikejeff]

Yes!

[@DarkpawTheWolf]

Yes. It would be a great follow-up video to this one. After NL got screwed over by Quebec, the new project they basically flipped Quebec the middle finger, routed the power through Newfoundland, massive undersea DC cables to Cape Breton, and through the NS grid to get to New England. Bravo.

[@emdxemdx]

@@DarkpawTheWolf ■ And the project has turned into a very expensive boondoggle. Newfies have NO hydro-electric expertise, and instead of turning to the most competent people on Earth (Québec - heck, we designed the Three Gorges dam project in China), they chose an Italian consortium with NO experience, which has run into 100%+ cost overruns, AND FURTHERMORE, had to secure federal loan guarantees to build their impractical “anglo-saxon” route to bypass Québec. Finally, it’s a “fuck you” to Québec that is more costly than the money Québec has made through Churchill Falls.

[@ericstromberg9608]

If you're doing big Canadian hydropower projects, maybe you could talk about Manicouagan.

[@gregdawe2786]

I'm from Churchill Falls, and when i was growing up , in order to drive to Newfoundland, we had to drive out through Quebec, then NB then NS then ferry to NL. Every year we drove through Manic 5. It always had me in awe.

[@Banananymous]

My grand father was one of the engineers for this power plant ! Nice :)

[@johnnylawts6037]

@megaprojects you should look into the Power station in Manapouri New Zealand. They hollowed out a Mountain in the Southern alps in the 60s all for an off shore company to power an aluminum plant. Heaps of controversy, a lot of deaths and a really big hole, the transmission lines them selves are wonder to behold.

[@dps140]

I've taken several tours of this place! It's really an incredible thing to behold. The sketchy looking one lane bridge over what used to be the Churchill river is cool too. I might have mentioned all the land that was flooded to make this project possible.

[@GillDawe]

I watch your other channel all the time but this is my first time stumbling on this channel. This is my home! So excited to see this video ❤️ Many of the people you mentioned have streets named after them in the town.

[@MrShaundarch]

We've got one these power stations in New Zealand, Manapouri Power Station built below, at the side of Lake Manapouri. When it was built it performed below design capacity due to friction on the sides of the tail race tunnel which exits into Dusky Sound. About 20yrs ago the built a second tail race tunnel. You can visit and access the power station via a boat trip across the lake, transferring to a bus which transports you to the generator room via a spiral access tunnel carved from raw granite.

[@SRW_]

First nations: Careful british man… to even look upon the falls is to bring upon your death. British man: none of that bollucks. Theres schillings to be made

[@Chimpur]

And Quebecois man too...

[@jacobl6714]

pip pip, cheerio (don'cha'know?)

[@arnepianocanada]

Thank you, Simon from 🇬🇧England, for educating a Canadian about 🇨🇦Canada!

[@Intense951]

Kemano power station is another interesting underground hydro project, that uses an alpine reservoir 2600ft above the turbines. Majority of the power goes to the Rio Tinton Alcan smelter.

[@johnkaminski4145]

I was recently there doing some machining work on unit 5. It is one hell of a facility. Great people there. I would look into the Snowy Hydro project in New South Wales Australia.

[@michaelb1761]

"It began producing power 6 months ahead of schedule." If the Canadian government had been in charge, it still wouldn't be finished.

[@brianw612]

Newfoundland was actually a separate country leading up to WW2, a dominion of the UK. It only became Canada's last province in 1949, renamed through an amendment to the Canadian constitution in 2001 to Newfoundland and Labrador.

[@UncleManuel]

Whaaaaaat? A megaproject within budget and finished ahead of schedule? This is unpossible!!! 😲🤪😁

[@Fuchswinter]

„This Reservoir is bigger than Ireland“ and my tiny European mind exploded

[@MaverickBlue42]

"Grand falls" is actually in New Brunswick, so perhaps another reason for the name change...also pretty epic landscape, particularly during the spring freshet. Most of the year it's mostly just bare interesting rock formations with a bit of water coming through the sluice gates. There are some nice high resolution photos online that contrast the difference

[@bamafan-in-OZ]

Every time I watch megaprojects I find myself on Wikipedia for the next 2 hours afterwards.

[@VJLA369]

I would LOVE a video on the Twin Falls dam, as I grew up and fished in that area as a child!

[@sagestats]

In this same nature, I am sure you are aware that the power company turns off Niagara Falls at night after the tourist go home and uses the water to generate power through the hours of darkness.

[@denotwos]

Haha the way he scoffs when he says "Canadian dollars"

[@abpsd73]

Canuckistan Kopeks

[@keithgrant307]

You should definitely do a video on the Bruce Nuclear Generating Station. It was, until fairly recently, the worlds largest nuclear power generating station.

[@jackfrost8854]

Holy Cow.....i suggested this a while back......awesome.......................................

[@mandalor45]

Simon videos about my home hits different

[@lorenzolbf927]

Simon Whistler, your my hero!!! I wanna have just as many KZbin channels as you do when I grow up!!!

[@johnathonherring2583]

The Biltmore Estate would qualify as a proper Megaproject in my opinion. It's billed as America's Largest Home and it's really an incredible place. Anyone agree?

[@schizoidman9459]

Nice video and very interesting to us, Canadians.

[@gregmannos]

What did John Mclean say when he saw the falls ? Yipeekayaa

[@ridethecurve55]

So much there (the hydro plant) and yet, so few photos and diagrams of any quality to really take it's awesomeness in! Now run along, and get us some pictures of what this project REALLY looks like, Simon!!

[@livein3dlw]

There’s not much out there , public interest outside of of the province was low and the remote nature led to not much video documentation

[@gregdawe2786]

@@livein3dlw CFLCO has tons of high quality diagrams, animations, and footage. I'm sure they could have procured something better than this.

[@sandybarnes887]

As a Newfoundlander I approve of and appreciate this video

[@geoffrey4662]

Another interesting project is the red river floodway. One of the world's largest earth moving projects at the time.

[@luuorallemn9921]

I love the new, casual shirt this episode. You look quite comfy. 😊 Very nice.

[@janmccall7608]

The various power companies that used the power of the Niagara falls managed to keep it's beauty. It's a shame they didn't save Churchill falls. Thanks for an interesting post!

[@GEORGE-jf2vz]

Thank you for an uplifting megaproject. One that does not deal with hundreds of billions spent on a project to kill people. This project helped people.

[@jacobl6714]

i mean a project that kills people can help others. don't be silly : p if it's a megaproject about a plane or bomb that killed a bunch of folks, what if they were nazi leadership, or confederate soldiers, or chinese peeps subjugating uighurs? Not so easy to just say unequivocally 100% that it's "bad" or doesn't "help"

[@scooby45247]

LOVE THIS CHANNEL

[@loupiscanis9449]

Thank you

[@mazdamaniac4643]

On a related note, how about Dinorwig hydro-electric power station in Wales? Built almost entirely inside a mountain, it's enormous. Well worth a visit if you're in the area, if you're lucky, you get to see those house-sized valves swing open in seconds.

[@tonivazquez1081]

Funny name for the company. In spanish "brinco" is "salto" ( jump ) and a waterfall is also called here a "salto de agua" or "waterjump".

[@fsj197811]

Yay for them, hydro power is awesome. :-) Thanks for the video.

[@kylegoulard897]

Do one on the kemano power station and power lines

[@livein3dlw]

To bad you can’t add photos to comments, I live next to this , this summer was the first in a while that they opened all the control gates and the falls ran near full capacity again , you got some things wrong , the train you showed is for menihek generation station , qnsl is why Churchill was possible , video suggestion do the carol project ! The mines that made everything else in Labrador possible

[@TommyCrosby]

Yeah... Québec is famous for it's hydroelectric power but, we tend to rake some controversies outside our frontiers when it comes to buy/sell electricity...

[@RMWestcott]

Just helped my sister-in-law escape that shit hole! A company town in the literal middle of fucking nowhere. Who would've guessed it would be a terrible place to live... I was around once when they had to divert the water back to the river to do maintenance and we walked out to see the falls. They were absolutely stunning!

[@GillDawe]

As a person who was born and raised there, I couldn’t imagine a better place to grow up! Too bad your sister in law didn’t have a better experience.

[@morlok49]

Do one on the cornwall Ontario Canada please! On the hydro dam or the cotton mill!

[@hehoosmeltitdeltit]

Not sure what you did with the audio or recording in this video, but it came through to me in excellent quality and balance.

[@paddyneill1964]

Love your videos Dungeon master 😁 Can you maybe get one of your basement boffins to make a script about Bagnell Dam and The Lake of the Ozarks in Missouri ? All joking aside, you folks do an awesome. Thank you very much.

[@StarScapesOG]

You could always do a video on either Bagger 288/293 and or Bingham Canyon copper mine.

[@jacobl6714]

I give this video an EH plus. Can't believe it's in an area the size of the republic of ireland, that was a fantastic perspective-adding factoid sir!

[@bernard_p_7096]

you should do a brain blaze on the debacle that is the Muskrat Falls Hydro Station

[@MrJJSimonds]

This really explains why Hydro Quebec is so bent on forcing their power line through Maine. It has been a huge fight. They got turned away by everyone else in the northeast, so now Maine is their only chance, but the people of Maine have voted it down, and yet it is still happening. I am guessing most Maine people do not know about the massive profits Hydro Quebec will make selling electricity for 2021 prices , but paying 1960's cost for it...

[@AutoBrawn]

And yet Quebec receives the most from equalization payments...

[@farmhanddiaries5422]

Video suggestion for a mega project the Manapori power station it was project that was built in New Zealand’s biggest national park and was built to power the aluminium smelter at Te Wai point

[@MrBrocktree1986]

Simon, you should do a mega projects video on the other hydroelectric dam (which is still being built) muskrat falls.

[@brendengee7596]

The surface to air missle would be a good video. I was looking into it and found it interesting how early development started

[@Dank-gb6jn]

Can we get a video on Three Mile Island and the cleanup effort involved with its disaster?

[@quackaddict2203]

Great episode of Engineering Blaze 👌🏻

[@vansongs]

1939 map different as The Rock was not part of Canada yet. Newfoundland/Labrador joined Confederation in 1949.

[@dmacpher]

Video idea - Canada and the Manhattan project. Lots of stuff folks aren’t aware of there

[@wombatwilly1002]

Don't get English Canada started on Quebec..LOL. Newfoundland/Labrador didn't join Canada until 1949.The US wanted it to join it as they saw a potential for an airforce base but the residents chose to join Canada.They fought as a seperate entity in both world wars.

[@alaingadbois2276]

Wasn't there a referendum in Newfoundland at the time where they chose not to join Canada?

[@wombatwilly1002]

@@alaingadbois2276 If i'm not mistaken it was to either join the US or Canada but don't quote me on that.I'll research it some..:)

[@wombatwilly1002]

@@alaingadbois2276 You're absolutely correct.There were two,they needed 50% to pass and the US were heavily involved with the first one that got 47% to remain independent and the second was 52% to join Canadian Confederation!

[@jamiewren9055]

Would love yo see a video about the Trent Severn Waterway that's in Ontario

[@iandaniel1748]

Love to see next episode 😊 green technologies

[@pigbenis8366]

Have you done the blue ridge parkway?

[@TheEvilCommenter]

Good video 👍

[@andrewcorless975]

Can you do a video on the logistics of the invasion of Normandy please?

[@lateve6243]

Kay-beck Simon, Kay-beck. Not Kway-beck.

[@MegaBluebone]

i cant believe you passed on an opportunity at a a Diehard reference..."A trader called John McLean came upon the falls on his way to a party in Nokatomi Plaza".

[@Stevgar2]

Hey Simon , how about one on the tribal class destroyers of WWII. Theirs only 1 left in the world & its in Canada.

[@andygibbons9828]

Ever done a vid on The Douglas AIR-2 Genie was an unguided air-to-air rocket with a 1.5 kt W25 nuclear warhead ? Cold war stuff !

[@missheadbanger]

Canada has 7% of the world's fresh water and we have 475 hydroelectric generating plants in the country. I live in saskatchewan and 20% of our energy is hydroelectric, the province has a 100,000 lakes and rivers. Unfortunately most of Saskatchewan's power is still reliant on fossil fuels, a majority is coal and natural gas. The province is investing in thermal and nuclear energy to combat climate change, small module reactors could provide power for isolated communities in Northern Saskatchewan'.for example. DEEP is a privately own corporation which is developing thermal energy in Southern Saskatchewan. I'm hopeful Canada with be zero carbon by 2050.

[@abpsd73]

Prairie geography isn't very conducive to hydroelectric power generation.

[@paddyakaaceman147]

Hi Simon in New Zealand we have a similar power station called the Manapouri power station. maybe check it out for a video

[@soulsquest]

Hey I lived there. It's Sokay.

[@charlietheunicorn5383]

Since we are talking about Canada ehhhhh How about Tidal Energy Project in the Bay of Fundy??

[@jeffmccann9798]

Do one on the Denieper ice bridge the germans did in ww2

[@renaissanceredneck3695]

Ahh the Bionic Fact Boi...lol 😂

[@OutdoorWarrior]

After Grand Falls it was called Hamilton Falls then after that it was called Churchill Falls.

[@giantmanice]

I've never been so early to a fact boy sesh

[@michaelpipkin9942]

Please do the YF-23 vs the YF-22. It shaped modern warfare for the Air Force.

[@jXmikeX]

'draining a natural wonder' me when i have to pee

[@joeennis2571]

how many workers did it take to build ? how many fatalities ?

[@Gam3control]

Did he just say new Finland? I'm up for it

[@theresavanheesch1222]

Or the SNOLAB the deepest clean lab in the world at Creighton mine

[@jameslindauer6968]

Do the Nurburgring

[@topiasr628]

Most people don't know just how close Niagara Falls came to having the same fate

[@Townshipfarmer]

Finally

[@daviddavid5880]

On budget and ahead of schedule? Who are you and what did you do with the humans?

[@rdgk1se3019]

I thought "Patshishetshuanau" ment "Joe was here".

[@thesilentone4024]

It sucks they took 90% of the water. I'm ok with 30% no more but 90 good god. Hopefully the citys start making rainwater collection and have thirsty cement for the parking lots and mybe the roads to increase the groundwater tables so we can use less river water and groundwater can recharge more.

[@phprofYT]

Build a power plant. Let the water flow.