The Facility’s History
Excavation of the hydropower plant’s canal began in September 1898 and was completed in 1902. Concurrently, construction of the Edison Sault Electric Hydroelectric Plant began in March 1900 and was completed in 1902. Official opening of the facility was held on October 25, 1902. At the time of completion, the plant was second only to Niagara Falls in terms of hydro development.
The facility is constructed of stone and steel. Much of the stone that was used was excavated from the power canal during its construction. Additional stone was used on other local landmarks throughout the City of Sault Ste. Marie.
Edison Sault Electric Co. purchased the hydroelectric plant and canal in 1963 from the Union Carbide Co. for $1.5 million. An additional $1.0 million was spent to convert the plant from 25-cycle electricity to 60-cycle electricity. Later, in 1998, Wisconsin Energy Corp. acquired the Edison Sault Electric Co. with the purchase of its parent company, ESELCO.
Plant Modernization Project
In 1987, Edison Sault Electric Co. began a review process to determine what was needed to keep the hydroelectric plant operating into the 21st century. The study determined that much work was needed to upgrade and replace the aged equipment and electrical wiring. Studies were also made to see if the plant could be made more efficient and productive through the use of modem automatic controls.
The modernization project was conceived in the fall of 1987 and broken down into five phases. The first four phases, which began in 1988, involved the installation of automatic controls on each electrical bus and all 74 generators. The final phase was implementation of a computer that managed operations to maximize plant efficiency. The modernization project cost approximately $8 million.
As part of the plant modernization, studies were completed to rate the generating efficiencies of each individual turbine unit given the peculiarities of their location in the powerhouse and in the river. The final phase of the project was to bring together the unique operating and efficiency characteristics of all the turbines and determine what combination is the most efficient to operate at any particular time. This "most economic distpatch" project was completed in 1993. After this upgrade, the central plant computer now allows the system controller access to each generator unit from the control room. This executive interface enables information to be directly monitored through a computer terminal.
The plant modernization also included installation of the METRA automated control system. It not only monitors the generation of electricity but also controls all processes at the plant: from identifying problems with each of the plant’s 74 turbine generators to automatically shutting units down to automatically restarting the entire plant.
Email
Comments
Print
Reuse
