A Colorful Blackout: The Havoc Caused by Auroral Electrojet Generated Magnetic Field Variations in 1989

The Hydro-Québec system is a winter-peaking system whose all-time record peak load of 39,240 MW was recorded in January 2014. Hydro-Québec exports to neighboring systems in Canada and the United States, with an annual transaction volume of approximately 30 TWh. The current system configuration is based on the major development projects of the 1960s and 1970s. In 1965, as part of the development of the Manic-Outardes hydroelectric complex, Hydro-Québec commissioned the world's first 735-kV lines, which had a much greater capacity than the existing 315-kV lines put into service in the late 1950s with the development of the Bersimis hydroelectric complex. In 1971, Hydro-Québec launched what was then dubbed the "project of the century": the development of the La Grande River complex in the James Bay region at the southern end of Hudson Bay. In 1996, when the final generating station, Laforge-2, was commissioned at the end of the second phase of the project, La Grande became the largest hydroelectric facility in the world, a title it retained for a number of years.

An Eventful 24 Hours in March 1989

On the evening of Sunday, 12 March 1989, 27 years ago, Léonard Bolduc, a researcher with Hydro-Québec, drove to the company's research institute on the south shore of Montreal without knowing that the most beautiful show of his lifetime was soon to begin.