Ontario Power Generation (OPG) requires fisheries expertise and support for conducting American eel and lake sturgeon studies, eel and fish passage feasibility studies, and conceptual and final design of passage facilities at its hydroelectric stations located on the Ottawa and St. Lawrence Rivers.
Kleinschmidt has been performing American eel and lake sturgeon investigations and developing designs at a number of OPG facilities on the St. Lawrence and Ottawa Rivers. Work at the Saunders Generating Station includes a tailwater survey of American eels, design of the eel ladder extension and operation of the eel ladder at Saunders Generating Station, and evaluation of habitat characteristics for lake sturgeon spawning in the tailrace. On the St. Lawrence River, investigations include American eel morphology, physiology, and energetics. Kleinschmidt is also conducting a technical feasibility and economic assessment of upstream passage, fish diversion, and bypass systems for American eel and sturgeon for various OPG projects on the Ottawa River and other river systems. As well, Kleinschmidt has provided strategic advice and developing a study plan for OPG’s use in developing Water Power Agreements on the St. Lawrence and Ottawa Rivers.
One benefit brought by Kleinschmidt’s data analysis was the discovery that many upstream migrating eels using a ladder drop back to the tailrace through operating turbines if released too close to the power house. As a result, Kleinschmidt designed an extension pipe for the OPG eel ladders to move the eels 100 meters upstream of the dam for release into the impoundment reducing drop back through the turbines by 95%.
