Portlands Energy Centre Photo Tour

These photos provide some history to the project site. The page will be periodically updated to illustrate major milestones in the development of the Portlands Energy Centre (PEC)




 

These modules will be installed in the plant and will help speed up construction to ensure that PEC is ready to produce power in the summer of 2008.

PEC’s internal piping systems were fabricated off site as this allowed for better quality control. In this photo a shipment from Hamilton prepares to leave dock.

Structural Steel on Main Turbine Building is almost Complete
November, 2007

The intake channel was a complicated engineering and construction feat.

East-facing aerial view showing the relative size of the former Hearn plant (foreground) and the new Portlands plant (center).

Portlands Energy Centre, a partnership between OPG and Transcanada Energy, hit a major milestone recently when the second set of stacks were put in place.The short (45 metres) stacks will be used when the plant runs in simple cycle mode, while the taller stacks (75 metres) will be used when the plant is completed as a combined cycle facility. PEC is on target to be available in simple cycle mode for four months starting June 1, 2008. At this time work to make it a combined cycle facility will be started.

In early June work crews installed the by-pass stacks on the PEC site – about 10 metres of this will be visible most of the stack will be enclosed within the PEC building






May 29, 2007 - Work crews recently moved by-pass stacks on to the site. These will be used for simple cycle operation.




PEC recently took delivery of its stacks. The stacks, which are about one third the height of the stacks at the Hearn generating station, were built in Thailand

The PEC project is now under construction on a site adjacent to the mothballed R.L. Hearn Generating Station.

The PEC site has a long history going back almost 100 years. It was created from landfill starting in 1912. During the 1930s and 1940s, it was the location for several construction and dockyard firms as well as an electricity generating station - the Scarborough steam plant.

In the early 1950s the site was used for the development of the R.L.Hearn Generation Station. After over 30 years of helping Toronto meet its power demands, the aging facility was removed from service

In the 1930s Toronto's skyline - and demand for electricity -- was much smaller than it is today.

The Hearn station helped a growing Toronto meet a rapidly growing demand for power in a booming post-war economy.

PEC will help a 21st century Toronto meet its growing demand for power.




Work began in earnest last fall with site clearing and leveling.






Construction activity this winter includes preparing the site for building the station later this year. Winter work includes driving pilings for the station's foundation, and excavating the water intake channel and installing the intake pipes. The bottom photo is a view of the site looking south from Commissioner's Street.

Portlands Energy Centre will use state-of-the-art gas turbines to generate electricity and help meet Toronto's growing demand for power.

PEC is scheduled to be producing electricity in June, 2008

PEC will occupy a small parcel of land, and will have a considerably small imprint compared to the adjacent Hearn GS, or Toronto's Rogers Centre.