James Bay Hydroelectric Project on the La Grande river, Canada

An impressive undertaking, built under often prohibitive climatic conditions. The greatest challenge faced by the James Bay Hydroelectric Project on the La Grande River was the cold. During the winter season, from November to March, work was suspended, only to resume at an accelerated pace during the summer months. The complex is located in, Quebec, Canada and was conceived to harness the water resources of the rivers east of James Bay for electricity generation.

The project involved a series of large-scale interventions, such as diverting the Eastmain and Opinaca rivers to converge into the La Grande, where a system of dams and power stations was then constructed. Two subsequent projects were then carried out: the construction of the dam called LG2 and the construction of the QA8 dam, an integral part of the hydroelectric plant known as LG4. The QA8 dam, located on the Stephan River, about fifteen kilometers from the main dam of the LG4 hydroelectric plant, features an embankment with a moraine core, 88 meters high and with a crest length of 1,940 meters.

Due to the climatic conditions, the construction sites saw the use of a significant amount of mobile machinery, both for excavating necessary materials (such as rock, clay, and sand) and for their installation. Excavators, drills, front-end loaders with buckets ranging from 5 to 10 m³, dump trucks with capacities of up to 80 tons, 30-ton trucks, motor graders, bulldozers, compactors, and other auxiliary equipment were used. The site was also equipped with a crushing plant and a drying facility with extremely high hourly capacity.

The measures implemented - later adopted by many other companies operating in the area - allowed the work to be completed a year ahead of the contractual terms.