RC122 JanFeb 2026 - Magazine - Page 14
The now completed
Site C Clean Energy
Project is the third
dam and hydroelectric
generating station
on the Peace River in
northeast B.C.
The project draws from
an 83-kilometre-long
reservoir, which covers
an area of about
5,550 hectares of
land, 25 times the size
of Stanley Park.
A joint review panel also questioned the need, cost
and impacts of the project and recommended in 2014
that an economic assessment of Site C be carried out by
the BC Utilities Commission.
The Liberal government of B.C. Premier Christy
Clark ignored those concerns and gave the project the
green light in a Final Investment Decision in Dec. 2014.
Though involved with the Site C project during its
regulatory phase, Waite was transferred to Revelstoke
“We also did early excavation work on the site, including
taking material o昀昀 the left bank to help 昀氀atten slopes on the
dam,” said Waite.
Named director of o昀昀-dam site work of Site C in Aug.
2018, Waite oversaw a myriad of other project building
requirements, including the realignment of 32 kilometres of
paved roads on Highway 29, an existing provincial highway
that connects the towns of Hudson’s Hope and Fort St John,
14 kilometres northeast of the proposed dam site.
6, another hydroelectric project that aimed to add a
sixth generating unit to the Revelstoke Generating
Station on the Columbia River.
When the 500-MW project was deferred (though it
was later revived and received environmental approval
in 2025, with construction set to begin in 2026), Waite
returned to Site C to help plan the implementation
phase and get the project rolling.
Early work on the site included the building of an
accommodation camp for up to 2,000 workers—from
tradesmen and heavy civil truckers to excavation operators, engineers and labourers—and the building of 14
kilometres of construction roads and a bridge over the
Peace River.
He also supervised the construction
of two new 75-kilometre-long, 500-kV
transmission lines that now connect
Site C’s facilities to the Peace Canyon
Substation, and the cutting and clearing
of thousands of trees and other materials from what would become the Site C
reservoir.
“We did many geotechnical studies
and work on the eight-kilometre-long
reservoir site, which was forested with
the Peace River 昀氀owing through it,” said Waite. “[And]
we had to clear the forested area of the dam site, construct
access roads, and begin relocation of millions of cubic metres
of material on the site to prepare for construction.”
When he was promoted to construction director of Site
C in the early winter of 2020—just weeks before the global
COVID pandemic hit—Waite was suddenly faced with the
additional challenge of keeping the project moving forward
despite all the public health fears and restrictions that arose
and lasted for more than a year.
He credits the fact that all project resources were at that
point focussed on the building of two concrete line tunnels
through which the Peace River could be diverted for reducing the risk of COVID infections.
14—RENEW CANADA – JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2026
BC HYDRO
2026 TOP100 PROJECTS
