At a construction cost of $16 billion, the Site C hydroelectric dam and reservoir on the Peace River in northeastern British Columbia is the most expensive public infrastructure project in the province’s history.
Last month, B.C. Hydro started filling the dam’s 83-kilometre long reservoir. The dam is expected to start producing power by December and be fully operational by the fall of 2025.
At 1,100 megawatts, Site C will generate enough electricity to power 450,000 homes, increasing available power on B.C.’s grid by about eight per cent.
But as the dam gets closer to going into operation, worries persist — in Alberta and beyond — that it could lower water levels in the Peace and other rivers downstream.
“For centuries, our people have lived along the river. It fed us, it’s our transportation. Everything that we ever needed was there,” said Francois Paulette, a former chief of Smith’s Landing First …