The Peace River already has two large hydroelectric facilities (W.A.C. Bennett Dam and Peace Canyon Dam) that rely primarily on the Williston Reservoir for water storage. As the third project on the Peace River, Site C will rely on water already stored in the Williston Reservoir. This means that Site C will generate about 35 per cent of the energy produced at W.A.C. Bennett Dam, with only five per cent of the reservoir area. Construction on Site C began in July 2015. The project is more than 80 per cent complete and remains on-track to have all six generating units in-service by 2025. In July 2023, BC Hydro announced the completion of the earth fill dam. The earthfill dam stands about 60 metres tall (the height of a 20-storey building), stretches more than one kilometre across the Peace River and is about 500 metres wide at its base. The completion of the earthfill dam was one of the essential milestones required before we can begin filling the Site C reservoir. Filling the reservoir is one of the last steps in building Site C as it allows us to put the generating station, spillways, turbines and generators into operation. The reservoir will be more than 80 kilometres long and cover 5,550 hectares of land, with a total surface area of 9,330 hectares. It will take two to four months to fill the reservoir.
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