René-Lévesque generating station
building in Quebec, Canada

The René-Lévesque generating station, formerly known as Manic-3, is a hydroelectric power station located 75 km (50 miles) from Baie-Comeau built on Manicouagan River, between 1970 and 1976. On June 22, 2010, the dam and the generating station were renamed to honour former Quebec premier René Lévesque, who was minister of Hydraulic resources during the construction of the complex and became premier of Quebec in 1976.
Description
René-Lévesque is a two-dam complex. The east dam is a gravity "hollow type" made of concrete with a spillway; the dam is 71 metres (233 feet) high and 378 metres (1240 feet) long. The west dam is a sand and rockfill type with clay inside, long of 395 metres (1295 feet) and 107 metres (351 feet) with base width of 732 metres (2402 feet). The Manic-3 reservoir is 70 km (43 miles) long and 202 metres (663 feet) higher than sea level. The complex has six Francis turbines installed in an underground power station for a total capacity of 1,244 megawatts (later upgraded to 1326 MW).
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This entry incorporates text from “René-Lévesque generating station” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.