The James Bay territory in Northern Québec, Canada, lies between the 48th and 55th North parallels and covers 350,000 km² (135,187 sq. mi.).

The La Grande complex was constructed to produce electric power from the Grande Rivière and from the Caniapiscau and Eastmain rivers, both of which have significant proportions of their flow diverted into the Grande Rivière catchment.

In its entirety, the complex is one of the largest hydropower installations in the world, with a generating capacity of 15,238 MW. The two-phase project comprised eight generating stations and the creation of eight reservoirs with a total surface area of 12,953 km2, including 10,809 km2 of flooded terrestrial land. The complex is serviced by the longest high voltage transmission system in North America and cost upward of 20 billion US dollars to build.

The Caniapiscau-LaForge Diversion, located in the northeast sector of the James Bay territory, is an important part of the La Grande complex. When this 230-km-long diversion was commissioned in 1984, its purpose was to channel water from the upper Caniapiscau basin to the Grande Rivière generating stations. In 1989, a second construction phase was undertaken to develop the remaining hydroelectric potential.

The LaForge development included the construction of three new generating stations with a total installed capacity of 1700 MW and required the impoundment of a new reservoir and construction of additional power lines and access roads. LaForge-1 is the largest of these, with a capacity of 878MW.