The Lower Churchill Generation Project consists of hydroelectric generation facilities at Gull Island and Muskrat Falls, as well as transmission lines between Gull Island and Churchill Falls and between Muskrat Falls and Gull Island.
GullIsland
The Gull Island facility will consist of a generation station with a capacity of 2,250 MW and the powerhouse will contain five Francis turbines. The dam will be a concrete-faced, rock-fill construction 99 m high and 1,315 m long establishing a 213 km� reservoir with a full supply level of 125 m above sea level (m asl) (EIS Appendix IB-C contains detailed mapping, pages 40-71). The reservoir will be 232 km long and the incremental area of inundated land will be 85 km� at full supply level.
MuskratFalls
The Muskrat Falls facility will consist of a generation station with a capacity of 824 MW and the powerhouse will contain four propeller or Kaplan turbines. The concrete dam will be built in two sections (on the north and south abutments of the river): the north dam will be 32 m high and 432 m long and the south dam will be 29 m high and 325 m long. The reservoir will be 59 km long with an area of 101 km�. The area of inundated land will be 41 km� at full supply level.
Interconnecting Transmission Lines
The transmission lines are designed to be:
203 km long for the 735 kilovolt (kV) line between Gull Island and Churchill Falls; and
60 km long for the double-circuit 230 kV line between Muskrat Falls and Gull Island.
Both transmission lines will be supported by lattice-type steel structures and located north of the Churchill River, requiring a cleared right of way approximately 80 m wide in addition to the existing right of way.
Supporting Infrastructure to the Generation Facilities
The following additional construction activities are planned:
Access (both permanent and temporary) to the sites and to the reservoirs will require approximately 345 km of temporary roads and 30 km of permanent roads. Most of the temporary roads will be constructed to facilitate vegetation clearing within each reservoir. Temporary access roads will be inundated during flooding or decommissioned upon completion of construction.
Temporary construction bridges which will be removed when construction is complete.
Accommodations at the Gull Island construction site are designed for up to 2,000 people and the Muskrat Falls construction site accommodations are designed for up to 1,000 people. Both facilities will be removed when construction is complete.
Borrow pits and quarry sites will be decommissioned and rehabilitated when construction is complete.
Diversion facilities will include diversion tunnels at the Gull Island construction site and cofferdams at both sites.
Spoil areas, consisting of waste overburden and rock, will be rehabilitated when construction is complete.
Reservoir preparation will involve clearing a portion of the vegetation from both reservoirs (EIS Appendix 1B-D, pages 4-35).
