A Brief History
of the
Old Pinawa Dam Heritage Park
-- Part IV --
The Pinawa Generating station
Power was transmitted to Winnipeg from the Pinawa plant of the Winnipeg
Electric Company for the first time on June 9, 1906
Initially, the dam produced 18,643 kW of power. Many people thought that
Winnipeg would never use that amount of electricity, but by 1916, ten years
after the dam started, Winnipeg's population had quadrupled. This was the
greatest period of expansion in Winnipeg's history. To increase the power, the
height of the water in the forebay was raised and the generating capacity was
increased to 22,371 kW with a peak power of 27,964 kW.
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The spillway before the water level in
the forebay was raised
The forebay dike and retaining walls were
raised to hold back the higher water level
The Spillway and Spillway House, after the
water level was increased
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Because the water level in the forebay was raised, the height of the Spillway
had to be increased as well. Vertical columns were added and squared stoplogs slid
into channels between them. The logs could be raised into the Spillway House in
times of high water to let the water escape.
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View from the south showing the Spillway and
Spillway house
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View from the south showing the Spillway and
Spillway house, the Gate House on top of the dam and the Powerhouse in
front of the dam. There is no water coming over the spillway, indicating
the water is at normal levels.
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Forebay, Trash Rack, Log Boom and
Spillway
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This view of the Forebay shows the spillway on
the top right (the edge of the water) before it was raised. In the
middle is a log boom to keep large floating objects away from the dam.
On the left side is the Trash Rack, shown as a series of angled lines.
The Trash Rack was attached to the dam and was positioned at a 45 degree
angle to filter out smaller debris that could damage the turbines.
During winter, a crew in a boat maintained a six-foot wide ice-free path
to prevent ice damageing or buckling the screen. Once the ice was
broken, it was pushed down the chute.
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South End of the Generating
Station in 1908
Top of Main Dam showing Headgate Stems &
Winches - 1908
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The winches raised and lowered stop logs on
the forebay side of the dam, to control water getting into the penstocks
with the Francis Turbines.
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Inside the Powerhouse showing the
Switchboard,
the exciters (below) and a generator (right)
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Inside the Pinawa Generating Station
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Powerhouse and Transformer Building
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The Powerhouse and Tailrace in winter
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South side of the Powerhouse in a high-water year
The spillway is on the left, out of this picture
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