Maximizing Waters of the Niagara River for Power Generation: Challenges Constructing the Niagara Tunnel Intake Approach

摘要

The Niagara River, forming part of the boundary between Canada and the United States, carrieswater averaging 6,000 m3 per second and drops about 100 m along its route from Lake Erie to LakeOntario. Over half of the drop occurs at the world famous Niagara Falls. Since the late 19th century,power plants have been developed on both sides of the river to tap into this valuable naturalresource. Due to progressive retirement of the century old inefficient hydro stations adjacent to theFalls, and Ontario Government initiatives to close remaining coal-fired generating stations, OntarioPower Generation Inc. decided in 2004 to proceed with the construction of the CAD$1.6 billionNiagara Tunnel Project to boost average annual generation at the existing Sir Adam Beckhydroelectric stations by 1.6 billion kilowatt-hours. One major challenge is the design andconstruction of the intake approach located in the 2 km wide upper Niagara River to direct waterinto the 12.7 m diameter tunnel, as outlined in this paper.