IEEE Power & Energy Magazine - July/August 2016 - 96

figure 10. The P&RRy powerhouse interior showing the two Canadian Niagara
500-hp, three-phase, 25-Hz, 2.4-kV, 10-pole Westinghouse generators installed
in 1898 at the upper right. (Photo courtesy of R.O. Barnett.)

Canadian
Niagara
ac Generators
in the P&RRy
Powerhouse

Canada
USA
Niagara Falls
Power Company
Powerhouse

Upper Steel
Arch Bridge

figure 11. The 1898 2.2-kV, 25-Hz, three-conductor international cable connection between the Niagara Falls Power Company powerhouse in Niagara
Falls, New York, and the 25-Hz system of the Canadian Niagara Power Company in Niagara Falls, Ontario. (Image adapted from a Westinghouse brochure
distributed at the 1901 Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, New York, courtesy
of Craig Woodworth.)

nomination was sponsored by the
IEEE Hamilton, Ontario, Section.
On 15 July 1899, the park commissioners and Canadian Niagara signed a
new agreement. The annual rental was
reduced to CAN$15,000 with addition98

ieee power & energy magazine

al charges based on power generation
and use. In addition, the date to begin
supplying at least 10,000 hp was set
at 1 July 1903, and, most importantly,
the park commissioners were free to
make agreements with other compa-

nies wanting to generate electric power
within the park.
Construction started on 23 May
1901 at the location above the falls
shown on Figures 2 and 13. The design was similar to the Niagara Falls
Power Company's powerhouse with
the generators at grade and the turbines in a 170-ft (51.8-m) deep wheel
pit. The 250-r/min turbines under
a head of 158 ft (48.2 m) were rated
10,250 hp, and the three-phase, 25-Hz
generator voltage was 11 kV. Also,
11-kV cables were installed between
the powerhouse and a transformer
building located on the bluff above the
park. The tailrace tunnel discharged
at water level into the Niagara Gorge
downstream from the falls near the
Ontario Power Company powerhouse.
[Note: The author had the privilege
of walking the length of the tunnel in
1957 when the powerhouse was shut
down for repairs needed as a result
of damage caused by "rock squeeze,"
the slow inward movement of the rock
surrounding the pit.] Power was first
delivered from two units to the Niagara Falls Power Company on 1 January
1905. A total of 11 units were installed
over a period of 19 years for a total
capacity of 120,500 hp. In 1927, the
powerhouse was renamed the William
Birch Rankine Power Station (commonly referred to as the Rankine Station) in honor of the attorney who was
intimately involved with the Niagara
Falls Power Company and the Canadian Niagara Power Company.
A total of 13 #3/0 AWG, 11-kV,
three-conductor cables were installed
between the powerhouse and the Niagara Falls Power Company powerhouse.
This international connection was
severed with the collapse of the Upper
Steel Arch Bridge on 27 January 1938
but was restored following the construction of the Rainbow Bridge in 1941.
A second international connection
was made in 1906. Two 22-kV transmission lines with 31-strand 500-kcmil aluminum conductors were constructed on steel poles (see Figure 14)
by Canadian Niagara to Fort Erie,
Onta r io. Steel towers suppor ting
july/august 2016

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