Lakeview Generating Station

Lakeview Generating Station
Lakeview Generating Station
Location of Lakeview Generating Station in Southern Ontario
Country	Canada
Location	Mississauga, Ontario
Coordinates	43°34′16″N 79°33′6″W / 43.57111°N 79.55167°W / 43.57111; -79.55167Coordinates: 43°34′16″N 79°33′6″W / 43.57111°N 79.55167°W / 43.57111; -79.55167
Status	Demolished
Commission date	1962
Decommission date	2005
Owner(s)	Ontario Power Generation
Thermal power station
Primary fuel	Coal
Type	Steam turbine

The Lakeview Generating Station was an Ontario Power Generation coal-burning station located in Lakeview, a community just east of Port Credit, in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada. The former station, constructed in 1958-1962, was located just east of Lakeshore Road and Cawthra Road. The four stacks of the station were known as the Four Sisters; the eight boilers of the generating plant all 'twinned' their emissions into common stacks. (Similar technology had been used in several of the four funnel liners that historically plied the North Atlantic.) The station was a landmark for years and was shut down in April, 2005, after 43 years of service. The four stacks, which could be seen from as far away as Burlington to the west and downtown Toronto to the east, were demolished on June 12, 2006. The rest of the building was demolished on June 28, 2007.

During the first half of the 20th century, most electricity produced in Ontario came from hydroelectric stations. But by the early 1950s, most large hydroelectric sites were already under development and new power sources were required to meet the province’s growing appetite for electricity.

On the north shore of Lake Ontario, in what is now the City of Mississauga, 52 hectares of land were earmarked for a new thermal-electric plant that would help meet Ontario’s power demands and even provide system reserves. “The Lakeview Project” was underway by June, 1958, and quickly became a station of superlatives: its eight boilers were the largest ever installed in Canada; the 300,000 kilowatt generators the largest ever purchased by a Canadian utility; and its power transformers were the largest ever built in Canada.

On June 20, 1962, Ontario Premier John Robarts and Ontario Hydro chairman W. Ross Strike pushed the button to start up the first 300,000 kilowatt unit. Lakeview was the second thermal plant designed by Ontario Hydro. The Hearn Generating Station in Toronto opened several years before and served as a test bed for Lakeview. As the design and construction of progressed, the station would include two different types of boilers and three unique turbine designs. It is possible that Ontario Hydro had a dispute with equipment suppliers in the early 1960s which caused the unusual equipment choices. The switch from Parsons as a turbine supplier to AEI was unusual since the AEI turbine generators on units 3-6 were (50 cycle) machines. They would require heavy weights attached to overcome turbine vibration at the higher (60 cycle) speeds in Canada. These were the only AEI turbines installed at Ontario Hydro. Units 5 & 6 operated until the station closed (40 years)