This article was written by Lindsay Jones and was published in the Globe & Mail on June 26, 2024.
Power plant in evacuated town will be operated remotely from Happy Valley Goose Bay after fire jumped Churchill River on Tuesday
A blazing wildfire in Labrador jumped the Churchill River on Tuesday, forcing the skeleton crew that had remained in the evacuated town of Churchill Falls to abandon the massive hydroelectric power station.
Officials say the plant will be operated remotely from three hours to the east in Happy Valley Goose Bay – a plan that was improvised as a precaution a few days ago.
As of late afternoon, smoke barrelled through the town as the fire advanced. It has grown to about 15 square kilometres since June 13. Two transmission lines were knocked out of service, affecting Labrador West area residents and industrial customers including the Iron Ore Company of Canada in Labrador City and Tacora, a mining company in Wabush.
Newfoundland and Labrador Hydro said power is now flowing to Labrador City by Hydro Quebec, but there might be a need for rotating outages while industrial customers will have to remain offline until it is safe for crews to complete repairs.
Premier Andrew Furey said the wildfire ignited on the steep, treed bank of the river roughly seven kilometres from the plant on Tuesday, increasing the risk to the 80 to 100 people who had remained in the town to monitor the fire and run the power station.
“From day one, we hoped, we prayed that the fire would stay on the correct side of the river and the river would act as a natural barrier, so it’s very concerning,” he said at a news conference from St. John’s.
Robert Dawe, who owns a repair shop in Churchill Falls and has worked as an NL Hydro fleet planner since 2001, said he left everything behind – photo albums, his motorcycle, paintings on the wall of the company home he’s lived in since 1974.
His adult daughter and son also both work and live in the community. He said he’s been focused on helping others and getting information to people rather than dwelling on the possibility that he could lose his home and fulltime job.
“All I’m doing is just scouring the internet trying to find as much information as I can, trying to share it with everybody,” he said, adding that he’s been offering up rides to people who don’t have a vehicle, and was meeting with a social worker Tuesday.
He said he’s lucky as he is able to stay with his girlfriend in her home in Happy Valley Goose Bay while other evacuees have been staying on cots in the town’s YMCA gym or bunking in locals’ campers, cabins and on people’s sofas.
The Churchill Falls Hydroelectric Generating Station is the second largest underground hydroelectric plant in North America, according to the company. The plant’s 11 turbines can generate up to 5,400 megawatts of power, with 90 per cent of it flowing to Quebec and neighbouring markets in Canada and the United States, while also providing electricity to 300,000 customers in 200 communities in Newfoundland and Labrador.
Designed in the late 1960s, the plant is not natively able to be fully operated remotely. But president of the Crown corporation Jennifer Williams said employees figured out how to operate the plant from a distance in Happy Valley Goose Bay over the last few days.
“I want to be very clear that it’s not the same as having a control centre that’s normally at the plant copied into Happy Valley Goose Bay. It is a very limited operation. But if you’re not modifying the operation of the plant for customer load, it’s okay,” she said.
“We’re working with our customers to make sure that they know that they are going to have limited ability to vary their load or their draw on the plant right now. So as long as no other things change materially, we should be able to continue.”
The company town of Churchill Falls, population 750, was evacuated last week with just the skeleton crew left on guard, and running the power station.
On Tuesday prior to the full evacuation, Ms. Williams said the plant was now operating at about a fifth of its capacity with power still flowing to most Quebec and Labrador customers.
The Premier said six water bombers are fighting the fire in circuits but if the blaze worsens, it could become too dangerous to continue.
“We feel like we’re properly resourced, it’s just Mother Nature needs to give us a hand and give us some rain and let the humidex change and the wind patterns change,” Dr. Furey said.
Showers are expected Wednesday morning in Churchill Falls, ending near midnight, and possibly picking up on the weekend, according to Environment Canada.
Caroline Des Rosiers, a spokesperson for Hydro-Québec, said about 15 per cent of Quebec’s electricity comes from Churchill Falls. She said the provincial grid won’t suffer much if the fire affects the dam because peak demand in the summer is about half what it is in winter.
Ms. Des Rosiers said the Quebec utility would be able to compensate with other power sources if Churchill Falls goes offline. While forest fires can damage transmission lines and cause outages, such problems can usually be resolved remotely, she said.
“The risks are minimal,” Ms. Des Rosiers said. “We’re not worried at the present time.”
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