BC Hydro lifts 600-tonne turbine rotor into place

FORT ST. JOHN, B.C. — The first of five 600-tonne turbine rotors has been installed at Site C.

The rotor has been placed into the Unit 1 generator pit inside the Site C generating station.

BC Hydro said the rotor took two powerhouse cranes four hours to lift into place.

According to BC Hydro, assembling the rotor took about a year to complete.

The power company explained the rotor contains electromagnets that will create a magnetic field that, when rotated past the copper windings in the stationary stator bars, creates electricity.

Over the next year and a half, BC Hydro said it will do five more similar lifts for the remaining units.

BC Hydro says Site C will be a dam and generation station providing 1,100 megawatts of capacity and approximately 5,100 gigawatt hours of energy annually to the province’s electricity system.

Construction on Site C began in the summer of 2015. BC Hydro expects the first generators to be online in 2024 and the project to be completed in 2025, with the reservoir being filled as early as 2023.