Robert-Bourassa Generating Station

The Robert-Bourassa facility, the flagship of Hydro-Québec's La Grande hydroelectric complex developed from the 1970s onward as part of what was then dubbed the "project of the century," remains to this day the world's largest underground power plant, with its installations buried over 140 meters beneath the Canadian Shield. Originally named La Grande-2 (LG-2), this colossal infrastructure supplies a substantial portion of the electricity consumed in southern Quebec, its strategic importance so significant that power outages in Montreal frequently trace their origins to incidents at this station located hundreds of kilometers away. The guided site tour, available year-round from the village of Radisson—the last community accessible by road via the Billy-Diamond highway in this part of Northern Quebec—allows visitors to descend 137 meters underground to discover the machine room, an extraordinary access that rarely leaves visitors unmoved by the sheer magnitude of this engineering feat. The experience also includes views of the dam and the impressive Giant's Staircase, a series of cascading spillways whose monumental scale testifies to the grandeur of this hydroelectric project, the realization of which resulted in the displacement of several Cree families—a darker aspect of this history that guides generally do not hesitate to address during contemporary site visits.