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Construction is well underway. For details on site development, please see our March newsletter under the news tab. 
Trent Rapids Power Project
Completed intake structure at Dam 23 - March 2009 Trent Rapids Power Corporation Trent Rapids Power Corporation was formed to develop a small hydroelectric generating facility on the Otonabee River at Peterborough, Ontario. The site of the proposed facility is the west bank of the Otonabee River adjacent to Locks 22 and 23 on private lands and lands leased from Trent University and the Federal Crown.
Power Generating Station on the Otonabee River
Peterborough was one of the first places in the country to begin generating hydro electrical power (even before Niagara). Companies like Edison General Electric Company (later Canadian General Electric) and America Cereal Company (later to become Quaker Oats), opened to take advantage of this new cheap resource. We receive approximately 97% of our electricity from the Provincial Transmission Grid. The other 3% is received from the London Street Generating Station owned and operated by Peterborough Utilities Inc. The electricity at London Street Generating Station is produced by the flow of water in the Otonabee River and fed directly into the local distribution system. The output from the station was used to keep the Peterborough Regional Health Centre operating during the 2003 blackout. Hydroelectric power is Canada's leading renewable energy resource. Of all the renewable power sources, it’s the most reliable, efficient, and economical. What is hydroelectric power? Water is needed to run a hydroelectric generating unit. It’s held in a reservoir or lake behind the dam, and the force of the water being released from the reservoir through the dam spins the blades of a turbine. The turbine is connected to the generator that produces electricity. After passing through the turbine, the water reenters the river on the downstream side of the dams The Power of Water |
Clean,
Green
Renewable Power Peterborough's answer to Power Shortages Between 1899 and the 1920's, hydro-electric power stations were built
along the Trent-Severn Waterway System. These plants formed an important
part of the early power grid in Ontario and signalled a 20th century
resource use of the waterway. By the beginning of the 20th century, hydro-electric power was considered
to be the energy supplier of the future for the province of Ontario.
Up until that time, Ontario had been heavily dependent on coal, the
power source of the steam age. Hydro-electricity was viewed as the "white
coal" of falling water, an independent, cheaper, more versatile source
of energy for Ontarians. But, more importantly, cheap abundant hydro-electricity
was thought to be the vehicle needed for industrial expansion. With
Ontario's own energy supply, new industries would be developed and attracted
into the province. Communities along the waterway viewed the system as a great natural resource and a potential source of power. People sought to encourage investment in electrical generating and transmission plants. In general, the harnessing of the system for hydro-electricity coincided with construction of the canal during the last construction phase.
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