Bersimis-2 generating station

Bersimis-2 generating station
Location of Bersimis-2 generating station in Quebec
Location	Lac-au-Brochet, Quebec, Canada
Coordinates	49°10′31″N 69°13′45″W / 49.17528°N 69.22917°W / 49.17528; -69.22917Coordinates: 49°10′31″N 69°13′45″W / 49.17528°N 69.22917°W / 49.17528; -69.22917
Construction began	1956
Opening date	1959
Owner(s)	Hydro-Québec
Dam and spillways
Type of dam	Gravity dam
Impounds	Betsiamites River
Height	276 ft (84 m)
Length	2,100 ft (640 m)
Width (base)	310 ft (94 m)
Spillway capacity	130,000 cu ft/s (3,700 m3/s)
Reservoir
Surface area	4,200 ha
Power station
Hydraulic head	380 ft (115.82 m)
Turbines	5
Installed capacity	869 MW

The Bersimis-2 generating station is a dam and a run-of-the-river hydroelectric power station built by Hydro-Québec on the Betsiamites River, in Lac-au-Brochet, 66 km (41 mi) north of the town of Forestville, Quebec. Construction started in 1956 and the power station was commissioned in 1959 with an initial nameplate capacity of 655 megawatts.

It is the second of two plants built by Hydro-Québec on the Betsiamites. Bersimis-2 was preceded by Bersimis-1, built 30 km (20 mi) upstream between 1953 and 1956. With upgrades and further river diversions, Bersimis-2's installed capacity has been increased over time to its current capacity of 869 megawatts.

The Betsiamites River, also known as the Bersimis, is located halfway between the Saguenay and Outardes rivers, on the north shore of the Saint Lawrence River, 300 km (190 mi) downstream from Quebec City. With the exception of an Innu reserve at Betsiamites, at the mouth of the river, the area is scarcely populated.

The word Betsiamites or Pessamit is from the innu language and means "the assembly place of the lampreys".Bersimis was not used by either the Innus, the French or the French Canadians, but was introduced by British admiral Henry Wolsey Bayfield, in his hydrographic surveys of the Saint Lawrence River of 1837. The Hudson's Bay Company used the name when opened a trading post in 1855, as did the post office in 1863. After 2 decades of efforts, residents and the Quebec government convinced the federal government to start using Betsiamites in 1919. But administrative use of Bersimis perdured for decades and Hydro-Québec used it in the 1950s to name its facility in the area.