Part of the large scale Eastmain1-A/Sarcelle/Rupert project of the La Grande Complex in the Baie-James territory will provide the Province of Québec with an annual energy output of 2.3 TWh. The total output of 8.7 TWh for the overall project is the equivalent of the annual consumption of Québec City.

For Eastmain 1-A Voith commissioned three Francis units with an output of 256 MW each. Within about two years Voith assembled and installed the generating units. With a diameter of 13 m and over 500 t weight, the generator rotors of these units are the largest in the whole Baie-James project.

The three turbine runners were manufactured by Voith in Sao Paulo, Brazil and sent on a 13 000 km journey to Northern Québec. Due to their enormous diameter of almost 7 meters, the runners were shipped by two ships. And it was the first time in history that runners of this size had been shipped in one piece over such a long distance.

At the mouth of the La Grande River, the runners were transferred at sea from the ships to a barge, five kilometers from the coast. The runners were transported up the river, one by one, to Chisasibi where Voith Hydro worked to construct a dock that would allow the runners to be moved directly onto a special low-bed 12-axle semi-trailer. They could then continue their journey to the Eastmain-1-A site.