biology

Muskrat Falls Generating Station

Muskrat Falls Generating Station is a biology topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Muskrat Falls Generating Station rather than just read about it. In short: The Muskrat Falls Generating Station is a hydroelectric generating station on the Churchill River in Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. It is located downstream of the Churchill Falls Generating Station.

Key takeaways

Muskrat Falls Generating Station belongs to biology; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Muskrat Falls Generating Station to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Muskrat Falls Generating Station from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

The Muskrat Falls Generating Station is a hydroelectric generating station on the Churchill River in Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. It is located downstream of the Churchill Falls Generating Station. The station at Muskrat Falls has a capacity of over 824 MW and provides 4.5 TWh of electricity per year. A $6.2 billion deal between Newfoundland and Labrador's Nalcor Energy and Halifax, Nova Scotia-based Emera to develop the project was announced in November 2010. On November 30, 2012, a federal loan guarantee deal for financing of the project was signed by Prime Minister Stephen Harper, Newfoundland and Labrador Premier Kathy Dunderdale and Nova Scotia Premier Darrell Dexter. On December 17, 2012, the provincial government announced project sanction. Emera received approval to proceed with the Maritime Link from the Nova Scotia Utility and Review Board in 2013. Financial close for the loan guarantee occurred in late 2013. On September 23, 2020, the first unit at Muskrat Falls was synced to the electricity grid in Labrador. Power from the remaining three units was originally expected to come online in the fall of 2021. However, there were delays in construction, including on the corresponding Labrador–Island Link which will transmit generated power to a converter outside St. John's. In April 2023, Jennifer Williams, CEO of Newfoundland and Labrador Hydro, announced the completion of the final successful test of the 1100 km transmission link to Newfoundland. Commissioning by the federal government will be announced following the completion of paperwork. Originally approved in 2012 with an anticipated price tag of around $7.4 billion, the costs of the project increased to more than $13 billion.

Technical plan

Generation Reservoir impoundment was completed in 2019 with the flooding of 41 km2 of land to create the 101 km2 reservoir. Containment is by a two-part concrete dam totalling 757 metres long. This will power an 834 MW generating station.

Transmission Power is transmitted to Newfoundland via a 350 kV high-voltage direct current line with a capacity of 900 MW. The total length is 1,100 km, of which 30 km are submarine power cables under the Strait of Belle Isle. Construction began in 2014 and ended in 2018. Power is transmitted from Stephenville on Newfoundland to Nova Scotia via a 200 kV 180 km sub-sea line to Point Aconi on Cape Breton Island with a capacity of 500 MW. Construction was a 1.2 billion dollar joint venture between Nalcor and Emera. The link came online in December 2017. Once on Newfoundland and the mainland of the Maritimes, power is distributed via the existing grid. Emera hopes to sell surplus power via a proposed 563 km underwater transmission line from New Brunswick to Massachusetts.

Environmental impact In late 2006, Nalcor registered the generation components of the Lower Churchill Project, including both Gull Island and Muskrat Falls, for environmental assessment with the provincial and federal governments. The provincial and federal government agreed to a combined review process that would fulfill the requirements of both levels of government, resulting in the formation of a Joint Review Panel. In 2010, the focus shifted to Muskrat Falls only. The environmental assessment for the transmission lines was done separately and was conducted in 2013. Many Indigenous peoples had serious concerns about how the land and wildlife would be changed by the development. Negotiations between the Innu Nation and the provincial government began in 2006, resulting in the New Dawn (Tshash Petapen) Agreement, finalized in 2011. This agreement included an Impacts and Benefits Agreement (IBA), a Redress Agreement related to damage caused by the Churchill Falls development, and an agreement in principle about the Innu Nation's land claim. Upon the ratification of the New Dawn Agreement, the Innu Nation indicated that the project was acceptable to them. In 2016, researchers from Harvard University suggested that methylmercury levels in fish would rise as a result of the project. After protests led by Indigenous groups in Central Labrador in 2016, an agreement was reached by Labrador's three Indigenous groups (Nunatsiavut Government, Innu Nation and the NunatuKavut Community Council) and the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador outlining the establishment of an independent committee to make recommendations on mitigating potential impacts of methylmercury on human health from the Lower Churchill Project at Muskrat Falls, Labrador. In 2018, the committee recommended – among other things – wetland capping to stem the release of methylmercury. During the Muskrat Falls inquiry in 2019, it was revealed the provincial government wouldn't be completing wetland capping at the Muskrat Falls reservoir as previously planned. The $30 million designated for the capping was split up and offered to all three Indigenous governments, with the Innu Nation and NunatuKavut accepting. Nalcor had applied for a permit in July 2018 to carry out the approximately 13 hectares of wetland capping – essentially pouring sand and stone over a small area of wetland near the reservoir – but the permit was never approved by the Department of Municipal Affairs and Environment. Premier Dwight Ball later said wetland capping would have only decreased methylmercury levels by two per cent.

… excerpt ends here. Continue reading the full article.

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Muskrat Falls Generating Station

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Muskrat Falls Generating Station claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In biology, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Muskrat Falls Generating Station before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Muskrat Falls Generating Station ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Muskrat Falls Generating Station

In research: Muskrat Falls Generating Station appears in biology research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Muskrat Falls Generating Station in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Muskrat Falls Generating Station is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics HVDC transmission lines, Hydroelectric power stations in Newfoundland and Labrador, Megaprojects, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Muskrat Falls Generating Station outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Muskrat Falls Generating Station in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Muskrat Falls Generating Station means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Muskrat Falls Generating Station out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Muskrat Falls Generating Station in simple terms?

Why does Muskrat Falls Generating Station matter?

Because it connects several biology ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Muskrat Falls Generating Station?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Muskrat Falls Generating Station.