(Photo courtesy of the Robbins Company)

The Niagara Tunnel Project, an effort to increase water flow to Ontario Power Generation’s 2,081-MW Sir Adam Beck Generating Complex, is scheduled to begin in September once assembly of the job’s giant tunnel boring machine is complete. The 14.4-meter-dia Robbins hard rock machine will bore a 10.4-kilometer-long tunnel beneath the City of Niagara Falls to the head of the falls, allowing another 194 MW of generation. The project will cost nearly $1 billion.