The McCormick Dam is a dam and power station built on the Manicouagan river by the Quebec & Ontario Paper Company and the Canadian British Aluminium Company 3 km (1.9 mi) east of Baie-Comeau, Quebec

Quebec

Quebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....

, Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

. It is named after colonel Robert R. McCormick

Robert R. McCormick

Robert Rutherford "Colonel" McCormick was a member of the McCormick family of Chicago who became owner and publisher of the Chicago Tribune newspaper...

 (1880–1955), who owned and published the Chicago Tribune

Chicago Tribune

The Chicago Tribune is a major daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, and the flagship publication of the Tribune Company. Formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" , it remains the most read daily newspaper of the Chicago metropolitan area and the Great Lakes region and is...

.

At the time of its commission, in 1952, the plant provided power to the paper mill

Paper mill

A paper mill is a factory devoted to making paper from vegetable fibres such as wood pulp, old rags and other ingredients using a Fourdrinier machine or other type of paper machine.- History :...

, then owned by the American newspaper.

The McCormick plant sits next to Hydro-Québec

Hydro-Québec

Hydro-Québec is a government-owned public utility established in 1944 by the Government of Quebec. Based in Montreal, the company is in charge of the generation, transmission and distribution of electricity across Quebec....

's Manic-1

Manic-1

Manic-1 is a hydroelectric power station and dam at the mouth of the Manicouagan River west of Baie-Comeau, Quebec, Canada. The power station was commissioned between 1966 and 1967 and producing 184 MW, it is the smallest of the Manicouagan-Outardes project....

 generating station and the two plants share the same reservoir

Reservoir

A reservoir , artificial lake or dam is used to store water.Reservoirs may be created in river valleys by the construction of a dam or may be built by excavation in the ground or by conventional construction techniques such as brickwork or cast concrete.The term reservoir may also be used to...

. Its installed capacity has expanded over time to its current 335 MW capacity.

History

As early as 1955, the Manicouagan Power Company planned a first expansion by adding 4 60,000 h.p. (44.8 MW) turbines, increasing the rated capacity to 292,400 h.p. (218 MW). The plant expansion was facilitated by a $C 29 million regulation dam built by Hydro-Québec downstream from Sainte-Anne Lake, on the Toulnustouc River and the upgraded facility was completed in 1959.

For over 50 years, McCormick generated power for the Baie-Comeau pulp and paper and aluminium smelting operations of its two shareholder

Shareholder

A shareholder or stockholder is an individual or institution that legally owns one or more shares of stock in a public or private corporation. Shareholders own the stock, but not the corporation itself ....

s, AbitibiBowater

AbitibiBowater

Resolute Forest Products , formerly known as AbitibiBowater Inc. is a pulp and paper manufacturer headquartered in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, formed by the merger of Bowater and Abitibi-Consolidated, which was announced 29 January 2007...

 (60%) and Alcoa

Alcoa

Alcoa Inc. is the world's third largest producer of aluminum, behind Rio Tinto Alcan and Rusal. From its operational headquarters in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Alcoa conducts operations in 31 countries...

 (40%). As a self generation facility, the private plant was exempt from the nationalization of the Quebec electric industry

History of Hydro-Québec

Hydro-Québec is a government-owned public utility established in 1944 by the Government of Quebec. The company is in charge of the generation, transmission and distribution of electricity across Quebec. Its head office is located in Montreal.-Origins:...

 under the Hydro-Québec umbrella in 1962-1963.

Forced to reorganize under bankruptcy protection, AbitibiBowater was forced to sell its 60% share of the plant to a subsidiary of Hydro-Québec, HQ Manicouagan. The C$ 615 million transaction was completed in December 2009.

See also

• Manic-1
  Manic-1
  Manic-1 is a hydroelectric power station and dam at the mouth of the Manicouagan River west of Baie-Comeau, Quebec, Canada. The power station was commissioned between 1966 and 1967 and producing 184 MW, it is the smallest of the Manicouagan-Outardes project....
  
  
• Jean-Lesage generating station
• René-Lévesque generating station
• Daniel-Johnson Dam
  Daniel-Johnson Dam
  The Daniel-Johnson Dam , formerly known as Manic-5, is a multiple arch buttress dam on the Manicouagan River which creates Manicouagan Reservoir. The dam is composed of 14 buttresses and 13 arches and is north of Baie-Comeau in Quebec, Canada...
  
  
• History of Hydro-Québec
  History of Hydro-Québec
  Hydro-Québec is a government-owned public utility established in 1944 by the Government of Quebec. The company is in charge of the generation, transmission and distribution of electricity across Quebec. Its head office is located in Montreal.-Origins:...
  
  
• List of hydroelectric stations in Quebec