Ontario Power Generation

SIDNEY GENERATING STATION

PLANT GROUP: Small Hydro Division
DRAINAGE BASIN: Lake Ontario
RIVER: Trent
NEAREST POPULATION CENTRE: Trenton(8KM (5 Miles) South)
IN SERVICE DATE: September 1, 1911
ACQUIRED BY HYDRO-ELECTRIC POWER COMMISSION OF ONTARIO: 1916
FROM: Electric Power Company
Asset Transferred to Ontario Power Generation: April 1, 1999
NUMBER OF UNITS: 3
CONTROL: Northbury

HISTORICAL NOTE:
The name Sidney is often mis-spelled as "Sydney". The adjacent township of Sidney, from which the plant takes its name, was named for the Earl of Sydney but for its 200 year existence has been spelled "Sidney", as it is to-day by all authorities.

It should be noted that, while this station is sometimes known as "Number 2 Powerhouse" due to its location on Trent Valley Canal Dam No. 2, it is not "Sidney Number 2" powerhouse, a term used in the early days to denote what is now known as Frankford generating station.

The front of the Sidney powerhouse building has a cornerstone set to the south of the main door reading "S.E.P. Co. 1911" (Sidney Electric Power Company). Ontario Hydro placed another stone to the north of the main door reading "Serving Ontario 75 years 1986" to commemorate this anniversary.

MISCELLANEOUS:
The plants at Frankford (Dam No. 5) and Sidney (Dam No. 2) are practically duplicates of one another. On account of the distance between the two plants being only 8 km (5 miles), the variation in the flow of the water is small. The head at No. 5 (Frankford), however, is only 5.5 m (18 ft), 0.6 m (2 ft) less than at No. 2 (Sidney) and on this account, it was not possible to operate generators of the same capacity. The main difference in the installed equipment, however, is the speed which at the upper dam (Frankford) is 112.5 revolutions (instead of 120) per minute along with the necessary change in the number of poles of the generator. The turbines, therefore, on account of the lower head, have a capacity of 1200 hp (Frankford) instead of 1400 hp at full load (Sidney) and the generators are rated at 650 kW instead of 760 kW.

The main difference in the design of the Sidney powerhouse is that, while at Frankford a control room was created at the shore end of the plant, the Sidney plant accommodates its switching and control equipment in a three storey alcove extending from the generator area out from the downstream side of the powerhouse.

Originally, the transformers for this powerhouse were located in the brick building across the road from the powerhouse, now the Sidney transformer station control building. The transformer is now located in the Sidney transmission station switchyard, although unit breakers and station service transformers are still housed, for the time being, in the transmission station control building.