Wreck Cove Generating Station

Wreck Cove is the largest hydroelectric plant in Nova Scotia with a generating capacity of 200 MW. Constructed from 1975-1978 south of the Cape Breton Highlands National Park, Wreck Cove collects drainage water from 216 square kilometers of the Cape Breton Highlands plateau to generate electricity. It’s this water source that comes from four different reservoirs, from as far as Cheticamp Lake.Wreck Cove is also one of Nova Scotia Power's more unique generating stations – the station’s powerhouse is located 275 meters underground, down a 620 meter access tunnel that's carved out of the side of a mountain and looks like the lair of a James Bond villain. From Surge Lake on top of the mountain the water rushes down through a 335-metre-long penstock feeding into a pair of six-metre-wide turbines, powering two separate 138,000 horsepower generators that can produce up to 226,000 kilowatts of electricity. From there there’s another three-kilometre tunnel that carries spent water through the mountain from the plant to the ocean.More than 21/2 million cubic metres of rock were blasted and removed in the process of making the hydroelectric plant.Occasionally tours are offered of the underground workings of the power plant.