Kakabeka Falls residents may have a sense next month as to whether a major overhaul of a local hydro station will keep them up at night during some phases of construction.
Stuart Olson GDB Joint Venture, the construction company retained to complete the Kakabeka Falls station’s approximately two-year upgrade, says it plans to request a temporary exemption from a local noise bylaw for overnight work between this fall and the winter of 2026.
The company is to outline reasons for the request and receive public feedback at an open house next month.
Since Kakabeka Falls is within the Municipality of Oliver Paipoonge, an exemption request would have to be made to the municipality.
Oliver Paipoonge Mayor Lucy Kloosterhuis said she plans to attend the April 16 open house to learn more about the construction plans.
She said it’s her understanding that the company wants to work through the night to have the upgrade completed in a two-year time frame.
“I believe there will be about 100 people working there over the two years,” Kloosterhuis said on Friday.
While Kloosterhuis noted there are homes within earshot of the hydro station, “there is quieter work that can be done at night.”
Any decision to grant a request would have to be made by council.
The hydro station is operated by Ontario Power Generation (OPG), which through the upgrade wants to extend the station’s life by 90 years and bump up its power output by 12 per cent to 27 megawatts.
According to OPG, construction is to include a new power house extension upstream of the existing facility, replacement of existing generating units with two new turbines as well as replacement of the station’s existing four penstocks with two new buried penstocks.
A penstock is an enclosed pipe that controls the flow of water to hydro turbines.
The station, which currently produces enough electricity to power 25,000 homes, is located just downstream from the picturesque Kakabeka Falls waterfall.
Stuart Olson is a subsidiary of Toronto-area construction giant Bird Construction.
At the end of 2023, Bird announced it had secured five new contracts — including OPG’s Kakabeka Falls hydro station upgrade — with a combined value of more than $530 million. It didn’t break down the specific amount for the Kakabeka Falls project.
In November of last year, Fort William First Nation claimed OPG was proceeding with the Kakabeka Falls station upgrade without regard to the band’s cultural values and traditional lands. The band said it was feeling “bulldozed.”
OPG replied in a brief statement that it was maintaining a dialogue with Fort William First Nation.
The April 16 open house is to take place at Kakabeka Falls’ Legion at 6 p.m.
