Bighorn Dam (or Bighorn Hydro Plant ) is an embankment dam in Clearwater County in west- central Alberta , Canada. It was built by Calgary Power in 1972, and led to the creation of Lake Abraham , Alberta 's largest reservoir . The dam and associated hydroelectric plant are managed by TransAlta.
6-624: Planning of the dam involved no evaluation of the social and environmental effects it may have caused, and no public hearings were held prior to the construction either. The construction of the Bighorn dam flooded the Kootenay Plains and stopped the livelihood (hunting and fur trapping) of the Bighorn Stoney Indigenous that had lived in that area. It had flooded their cabins, graves and pastures. The Bighorn Plant
12-623: Is in Brazeau County of central Alberta , 55 kilometres (34 mi) southwest of Drayton Valley . It was developed along the Brazeau River , at the confluence with Elk River , in the hydrographic basin of the North Saskatchewan River . Construction of the dam began around 1960 and was completed in 1963. The first generating unit was installed at the power plant in 1965, adding 355 MW of generating capacity to
18-470: Is slightly behind TransAlta's Bighorn Dam , with a smaller peak capacity of 120 MW but an available water supply that allows it to produce 408,000 MW⋅h each year. In order to deal with the sometimes challenging water supply on the Brazeau, the plant includes a pump-back system capable of lifting water from the outflow below the dam back up to the 20 kilometres (12 mi) long reservoir, allowing
24-490: Is the second largest hydro facility owned by TransAlta (the largest being Brazeau Dam ), with a capacity of 120 megawatts (MW). However, it has an available water supply that allows it to be the largest producer of hydroelectric energy in Alberta, with an average of 408 gigawatt-hours (1.47 PJ) each year. The plant is one of two TransAlta hydroelectric plants on the North Saskatchewan River system in Alberta. The dam
30-546: The Calgary Power System. The dam and hydroelectric plant are managed by TransAlta . The plant has an electricity generating capacity of 355 megawatts (MW). The Brazeau Plant is the largest hydroelectric plant owned by TransAlta. The hydrology of the Brazeau area allows it to produce an annual average of 397,000 megawatt-hours (MW⋅h) of electric energy. The annual output of the Brazeau Plant
36-759: Was built in 1972 in the mountain gap at Windy Point, in the Front Ranges of the Canadian Rockies , west of the confluence of the North Saskatchewan River and the Bighorn River . 52°18′31.64″N 116°19′44.98″W / 52.3087889°N 116.3291611°W / 52.3087889; -116.3291611 ( Bighorn Dam ) Brazeau Dam Brazeau Reservoir is a large man-made reservoir in Alberta , Canada. It
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