Did you Know? Fast facts about the James Bay hydroelectric project

1. The James Bay hydroelectric project covers an area as big as the State of New York.
2. It was considered a mega-project and one of the world’s largest energy projects; it cost about $20 billion.
3. The first part of the project, built around 1971, cost approximately $13.7 billion (equivalent to roughly $153.6 billion in today’s dollars).
4. Construction of the 700-kilometre James Bay Road, leading to the worksite, began in 1971 and included the construction of 13 major bridges.
5. The first part of the project took about 14 years to build. By comparison, the Empire State Building was built in one year and 45 days.
6. This year marks the 54th anniversary of the James Bay Project. When launched, this development was described as the “project of the century.”
7. The 620 kilometres of the James Bay Road, renamed the Billy Diamond Highway in 2020, was built in 450 days.
8. The Billy Diamond Highway (formerly the James Bay Road) has the longest stretch of road in Canada without any services for 381 kilometres.
9. For nearly 25 years, this project was the largest construction site in the world.
10. The La Grande complex stretches 800 kilometres from the La Grande-1 dam to the Caniapiscau reservoir. That’s the same distance as from Vancouver to Jasper, Alta.
11. It is the world’s largest underground hydroelectric power plant. You have to slowly descend to 137 meters underground to visit the power plant and see its powerful turbines. That’s the equivalent of a 35-storey office tower.
12. The underground hydroelectric power station is 483 meters long and 22 metres wide. It could fit five soccer fields.
13. The Robert Bourassa Generating Facility is the most powerful in the Hydro-Québec network. Almost 20 per cent of Quebec’s electricity is produced here.
14. Electricity travels from the project at Radisson, Que. to Montreal at 300,000 km/second. That is the speed of light!
15. The spillway (the giant staircase composed of 10 steps) releases the overflow of water from the reservoir during flooding. Each step measures 10 metres in height and 122 metres in length, which means you could fit two football fields on each step.
16. The tiered spillway is three times the height of Niagara Falls.
17. The water diversion of the La Grande River increased the flow of the river from 1,700 cubic meters per second to 3,300 cubic meters per second. That’s equal to half a Goodyear blimp passing through the river every second.
18. 4,800 kilometres of transmission lines installed to bring power to Quebec. That is roughly the distance from Vancouver to Montreal.
19. The James Bay Project produces 83 terawatt hours of electricity every year — enough to power a country the size of Belgium.
20. It is the largest power-generating station in North America.
21. The Municipality of James Bay covers an area of 350,000 square kilometres, making it by far the largest municipality in the world.
22. The Caniapiscau River flows from the La Grande reservoir, which supplies the James Bay dam with waterflow, for over 800 kilometres to Ungava Bay, near Kuujjuaq.
23. Over 170,000 kilometres worth of water catchment is connected to the La Grande reservoir river complex.
24. Nunavimmiut do not benefit from the electricity generated by Hydro-Québec. The majority of their electricity is generated with diesel fuel.
25. The Billy Diamond Highway (formerly the James Bay Road) is a 620-kilometre road built as part of the James Bay Project. It is paved and plowed in the winter.

This article is part of Nunatsiaq News’ commemoration of the 50^th anniversary of the signing of the James Bay and Northern Quebec Agreement in 1975.

This project has been made possible in part by the Government of Canada.