Hydroelectric Project
The lake was enlarged by flooding the earlier Lake Mouchalagan and Manicouagan by construction of the Daniel-Johnson Dam, part of the massive Manicouagan or Manic series of hydroelectric projects undertaken by Hydro-Québec, the provincial electrical utility, during the 1960s. The complex of dams is also called the Manic-Outardes Project because the rivers involved are the Manicouagan and the Outardes.
The Manicouagan Reservoir acts as a giant headpond for the Manicouagan River, feeding the Manic-2, Manic-3, and Manic-5 generating stations downstream. In the peak period of the winter cold, the lake surface is usually lower, since the turbines are run all the time at peak load to meet the massive electrical heating needs of the province. The surface of the lake also experiences low levels in the extreme periods of heat in New England during the summer, since in that period Hydro-Québec sells electrical energy to the joint New England grid and individual utilities in the United States.
Read more about this topic: Manicouagan Reservoir
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“She cannot love,
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—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)