Adam Beck II
Adam Beck II contains 16 generators and first produced power in 1954. The water was first diverted from the Niagara River by a five mile tunnel under that starts above the falls and under the city of Niagara Falls, Canada. A reservoir was created that permits the holding of water, diverted during the night, for use during the day.
Between 2006 and 2013, Adam Beck II underwent major civil engineering projects with the addition of a major underground water supply tunnel built by the Niagara Tunnel Project in order to improve its generation output. Water delivered by the major new tunnel complemented other upgrades to the Sir Adam Beck generating complex, resulting in a significant increase to the efficient use of the Niagara River's hydro power.
The project's new 12.7 metres (42 ft) diameter, 10.2 kilometres (6.3 mi) long tunnel was officially placed into service on 21 March 2013, helping to increase the generating complex's nameplate capacity by 150 megawatts, able to provide the power for about 160,000 homes.
In 1965 the major Northeast Blackout of Ontario and several U.S. states occurred after maintenance personnel incorrectly set a protective relay on one of the transmission lines from the Sir Adam Beck Station No. II. The faulty relay later tripped open causing a major blackout created by a series of cascade failures which affected over 30 million people for up to 12 hours.
Read more about this topic: Sir Adam Beck Hydroelectric Power Stations
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