Google Sightseeing takes you on tour of the world as seen from satellite, using the free Google Earth program, or Google Maps in your web browser. Each weekday your guides James and Alex present new weird and wonderful sights as suggested by readers.

The editors: James & Alex

Power lines

Thursday, 15th September 2005 by James

Six huge towers hold power lines crossing the Saint Lawrence River, they’re quite cool. If you follow the lines to the north you’ll find another six not-so-huge towers as the lines have to cross another part of the river. Now who can be bothered following them all the way to the power plant? :D

Thanks: Eric Veilleux

13 Responses to 'Power lines'

  1. 1. mark says:

    Placemark: Google Maps / Google Earth

  2. 2. mark says:

    oops i meant
    Placemark: Google Maps / Google Earth

  3. 3. Gabe says:

    Is that the powerplant, mark?
    Looks like vegetarian pasta to me.

  4. 4. Esquif says:

    Yes, Mark show us the Churchill Falls power plant in New Foundland. Almost all electricity produce there is transporte in Quebec by this really long power line.

  5. 5. satellite lover says:

    At first i thought the line heading off to the south west was an imaging anomaly but it soon becomes apparent is is the power lines - or more to the point the area cleared below the power lines. It is amazingly straight and doesnt seem to have any deviation to account for the topography or the natural environment. Some achievement!

  6. 6. Graham says:

    I followed the lines north and arrived here:
    Placemark: Google Maps / Google Earth

  7. 7. satellite lover says:

    I followed the lines south and gave up after a couple of hundred miles! It sure is a Big Country.

  8. 8. Matthew says:

    Wow, those are some large power lines. They’re easy to follow once you get further inland… the construction people conveniently cut a huge swathe through the trees so that GoogleMappers could see more easily.
    It also seems apparently these power lines service a lot of speed demons. They pass right by a go-kart track here:
    Placemark: Google Maps / Google Earth
    As well as a dirt bike track further down, here:
    Placemark: Google Maps / Google Earth

    I arrived at the same northward destination that Graham did (although the lines split up in a few locations), but it seems like the lines continue for many more miles… they re-emerge into high-res after awhile, so I’m still exploring.

  9. 9. Eric says:

    Hydro-Québec TransÉnergie is a leader in transmission system design, operation and maintenance. It operates the most extensive transmission system in North America, with 32,539 km of lines, 18 interconnections allowing power interchange between Québec and the systems in Labrador, New Brunswick, Ontario and the U.S.Northeast, and more than 500 transmission substations.

    see: http://www.hydroquebec.com/transenergie/en/reseau/pdf/carte_reseau.pdf

  10. 10. Keith T. says:

    For the record, all other high-tension power line trails in temperate North America look like that when they run through a forested area:

    1. It makes it easier for maintenance equipment to reach the towers
    2. It prevents trees from rubbing against the wires and etc. and causing huge fires

    In some areas like mine, some of the power line trails double as public walking/biking trails. No, I don’t know if there is an increase in cancer cases as a result. The Placemark: BPA Trail / Google Earth south of Seattle is such a trail; it can be a little unnerving taking a leisurely walk under buzzing and crackling power lines, but it’s still a nice use of utility-owned space.

  11. 11. Julien T.-C. says:

    This power line showed here is one of many power lines coming out of Churchill falls, this is at Lévis(Qc) on the other side of the Saint-Lawrence. The island is L’ÃŽle D’Orléans and on the other side ofe the rive is Saint-Anne-De-Beaupré. Unfortunatly lighting doesn’t show it but the towers(of the same power line) at Saint-Anne are much more higher and impressive the those at lévis.
    But if you want impressive power-lines; you should go at Radisson(Qc), it is where the road stops up north(^^). And it is also where the ”Complexe La Grande” begins.( http://www.hydroquebec.com/sebj/fr/lagrande.html ) Here’s a little site explaining the complex, in french of course… but maybe is ithere something in english on google, try to find out, fact it this is the biggest power source in Quebec!

  12. 12. Marco says:

    in french of course… here is the english link

    http://www.hydroquebec.com/sebj/en/lagrande.html

    and here is the link for HydroQuebec for those who would like to know more about this incredible power network.

    http://www.hydroquebec.com/en/index.html

    note that hydroquebec is a societé d’état

  13. 13. dan jones says:

    Aaaand here’s a link to Radisson, as mentioned above:

    Placemark: Google Maps / Google Earth

    Here’s an overview of the Complexe La Grande:

    Placemark: Google Maps / Google Earth

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