The La Gabelle Power Station Blows out 100 Candles
April 23, 2024
The La Gabelle power station, located between the municipalities of Notre-Dame-du-Mont-Carmel and Saint-Étienne-des-Grès, on the Saint-Maurice River, is celebrating 100 candles!
It was on April 14, 1924 that the first four turbine-alternator groups began to produce electricity. A fifth group was added in 1931. The power station has been supplying Hydro-Quebec customers with renewable energy for a century! Producing tens of thousands of kilowatts per second, for 100 years, is no small thing!
Commissioned by the Saint-Maurice Power Company, a subsidiary of the Shawinigan Water and Power Company, the La Gabelle power station became the property of Hydro-Québec during the nationalization of electricity in 1963. It combines utility, solidity and simplicity. Its rationalist architecture makes it one of the most beautiful power stations in Canada. The postal service even dedicated its own stamp to it in 1946. The presence of this hydroelectric power station in a semi-urban environment is accompanied by a rich history.
In Mauricie, who says central La Gabelle says inter-river link. It was in December 1999 that we drove there for the first time. The popularity of this link between the two banks of the Saint-Maurice River has never waned.
In collaboration with neighboring municipalities as well as Appartenance Mauricie, Hydro-Québec will mark this centenary in a beautiful way next fall. Stay tuned to find out what activities will be organized.
“Happy birthday to our beautiful centenarian!”
Dam
- Type: Concrete-gravity
- Height: 24 m
- Length: 590 m
- Built: 1924
Power transmission lines
- Number: 2
- Output voltage: 230 kV
- Post: La Gabelle
La Gabelle power plant
- Type: Water wire
- Installed power: 131 MW
- Number of turbine-alternator groups: 5
- Fall height: 17.38 m
- Commissioned: 1924
- Turbines: Francis
