The Granite Canal Hydroelectric Generating Station is a component of the Newfoundland and Labrador Hydro

Newfoundland and Labrador Hydro

Newfoundland and Labrador Hydro is a provincial Crown corporation that generates and delivers electricity for Newfoundland and Labrador, Quebec, and the north-eastern areas of the United States. It also delivers voice and data services to customers in some areas...

 Corporation's Bay d’Espoir Hydro Electric Development system. The generating station has a rated capacity of 40 MW with an annual average energy production of 224 Gigawatt hours (GWh). The generating unit at Granite Canal utilizes approximately 37 metres of head with a rated plant flow of 122.4 cubic metres per second. The unit is equipped with a Kaplan turbine

Kaplan turbine

The Kaplan turbine is a propeller-type water turbine which has adjustable blades. It was developed in 1913 by the Austrian professor Viktor Kaplan, who combined automatically adjusted propeller blades with automatically adjusted wicket gates to achieve efficiency over a wide range of flow and...

 and was first synchronized on May 26, 2003.

A fish habitat compensation system was included in this development to ensure any aquatic habitat

Aquatic ecosystem

An aquatic ecosystem is an ecosystem in a body of water. Communities of organisms that are dependent on each other and on their environment live in aquatic ecosystems. The two main types of aquatic ecosystems are marine ecosystems and freshwater ecosystems....

 loss was avoided, reduced or replaced. A Fish Habitat Compensation Agreement was signed with Fisheries and Oceans Canada

Fisheries and Oceans Canada

Fisheries and Oceans Canada, frequently referred to as DFO , is the department within the government of Canada that is responsible for developing and implementing policies and programs in support of Canada's economic, ecological and scientific interests in oceans and inland waters...

to ensure proper construction, utilization and long term viability of the facility.