Brilliant Dam - Kootenay River, Castlegar, BC - Picture Perfect Postcards on Waymarking.com

Built beginning in 1944 By Cominco, Ltd., its primary purpose at the time was to supply electricity to Cominco's smelter in Trail, BC. Surplus power was supplied to the local grid for residential and commercial use.

Cominco built a larger dam at Waneta, closer to the smelter, in 1954, but continued to operate this dam until 1996 when it was sold to the Columbia Basin Trust and Columbia Power Corp. Originally it housed 2 27 MW Francis turbines.

The dam is 42.6 metres high, with a head of 28 metres, and has eight sluice gates. In 2000 the facility was upgraded with four turbines generating a total of 145 MW of electricity.

In 2003, the Columbia Power Corporation began the Brilliant expansion. A 120 MW powerhouse was added which will use excess water beyond the capacity of the original powerhouse. Completed in 2007, the combined generation is now 265 MW.

This postcard is pre-2003 as it does not show the new powerhouse, downstream and to the right in the photos.

The Postcard

The Photograph

Physical Address: Kootenay River approximately 2.5 km. above its confluence with the Columbia River. Castlegar, BC Canada Related Web Site: [Web Link] Description of Postcard Location: End of Terrace Road above Highway 3A. Parking Coordinates: N 49° 19.378 W 117° 37.444

Visit Instructions:
To log a Visit, please make every effort to supply an image of yourself at the site. The standard GPS photo may be used as well, or even just an image that you took when you visited the location. If you do not have the option to provide an image, please provide a detailed description of your visit so we can form a 'mental image'

Recent Visits/Logs:

There are no logs for this waymark yet.