$714-million Mica Dam upgrades boost B.C.’s ability to produce power

The Mica dam, 145 kilometers north of Revelstoke, is where power is generated for more than 650,000 homes. More clean energy is now on tap: B.C. Hydro has added two new generating units.

The $714-million upgrades significantly boosted the crown corporation’s ability to generate power.

“It represented about a 10 per cent increase in our system capacity,” explains deputy CEO Chris O’Riley.

When the dam was built, four generating units were installed and space was left for expansion.

“It was a great gift from the previous generations of B.C. Hydro designers and our customers who paid for the original dam and allowed us to cost-effectively add capacity for our needs today,” says O’Riley.

However, moving 1,000 megawatts of machinery into place wasn’t easy. It involved getting two large turbines from Germany, where they were made, to the dam’s relatively remote location in B.C.’s Interior.

B.C. Hydro says customers paid for the project, but the need for more power in the province justifies the cost.

“It is one of the most important investments we are making in the system to both supply growing load as well as rejuvenate the existing asset base and that is of course a driver of our very necessary rate increases,” O’Riley says.

O’Riley says the project came in under its $714-million budget.