Water level record in the reservoirs of Hydro-Quebec

Pierre Couture

Thursday, march 1, 2018 21:48

UPDATE
Thursday, march 1, 2018 21:48

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Hydro-Quebec has never had so much water in the reservoirs of its dams. The warmer weather is on the horizon could force the corporation to make spills for the next few weeks, learned The Newspaper.

“We are monitoring the situation very carefully. Our meteorologists are watching for them. The levels in our reservoirs are very high,” said Thursday the Newspaper, a spokesperson for Hydro-Québec, Serge Abergel.

According to our information, the reserve hydraulic Hydro-Québec has recently achieved the bar 140 terawatt-hours (TWh) of which was stored behind its dams, an absolute record.

Last October, Hydro-Quebec said to have accumulated 139 terawatt-hours of inventory of water in huge reservoirs in northern Quebec.

This situation makes them very nervous meteorologists and managers of the network of Hydro-Québec, who will closely monitor the spring flood of the rivers in Quebec. Last year, Hydro-Québec was forced to pour large quantities of water from some of its reservoirs in the spring.

At the end of October, Hydro-Québec has also been forced to make spills for several days on the North Shore. We have not seen for nearly 50 years the dam Manic-5.

Spills have also been observed on the side of the dams of Bersimis-1, Bersimis-2, Toulnustouc and Outardes-2 as well as the spillways of Manic-3, Manic-2, Manic-1 and McCormick.

Surplus mass

Hydro-Quebec refuses to disclose the quantities of water discharged in 2017, calling it the however, of “significant”.

The Crown corporation must juggle this year with surplus electricity considerable that prevent power turbine to its maximum capacity of water, in 27 tanks.

According to the procurement plan 2017-2026 filed with the Régie de l’énergie, Hydro-Québec will have to deal this year with 13.4 TWh of surplus electricity.

Forecasts of the surpluses Hydro-Québec

YEAR | NUMBER OF TERAWATT-HOURS (TWH)

• 2018 13,4 TWh
• 2019 12,1 TWh
• 2020 10,4 TWh
• 2021 11,1 TWh
• 2022 9.7 TWh
• 2023 8,9 TWh
• 2024 7.6 TWh
• 2025 7.6 TWh
• 2026 7 TWh

Source : Hydro-Québec