follows the tailrace tunnel to the sea. It required one of the largest fleets of earth-moving equipment in Nova Scotia's history and employed approximately 900 people. The Wreck Cove Hydro Station produced its first energy on 27 March 1978. Technical characteristics Dams, Wing Dams, Spillways, and Canals There are 21 dams of various heights and lengths holding back the several reservoirs that make up the Wreck Cove Hydroelectric System: Water moves from Chéticamp Flowage (El. ), via canal C-1, to Ingonish I (El. ), then canal C-2 to Ingonish II (El. ) reservoirs, and on to canal C-3 which discharges into Gisborne Flowage (El. ). Here is it joined with water from MacMillan Flowage (El. ) via tunnel T1, a long, diameter tunnel, to Gisborne, where electricity is generated through the Gisborne Powerhouse's horizontal turbo generator unit. The water then follows canals C-5 & 6 to the Wreck Cove Flowage Reservoir (El. ), and then travels via T2, a long diameter inverted siphon tunnel, to the head pond, Surge Lake. A blasted, concrete lined penstock, in diameter, then carries water down to the power house below. Power House The Wreck Cove station's powerhouse is located underground, accessible down a access tunnel. The powerhouse, which was carved out of the granite of the mountain, is long, wide, and high (from the base of the valve wells to the roof). The bottom of the valve wells are below sea level, the centreline of the turbines are at an elevation of above sea level. The main floor of the power house is at , with the cavern's roof arch rising to above sea level. At the base of the power house, the concrete lined penstock transitions into a bifurcation and steel lined horizontal penstock, long. These now paired penstocks deliver the high pressure water to the two diameter spherical turbine inlet shutoff valves (Dominion Engineering Works) that feed into Wreck Cove's two vertical 101 MW francis turbine (Mitsubishi Motors) generator units (Canadian General Electric). The water then is carried to the tailrace, which is another tunnel approximately wide. The slope of the tailrace is very low, about in (a 0.028% downslope). The top of the tailrace at the sea is always above high tide though the base is at below sea level. All in all, water will have travelled as much as 30 km from the Chéticamp Flowage to the tailrace's outlet at