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Show Chapter 3 Water Development Needs, Opportunities and Programs Hydroelectric Power Capacity, Yearly Production, Areas Served The Missouri River Basin has nine Federal hy- droelectric plants with a total installed capacity of 113,400 kilowatts. The principal plants are Fort Peck, operated by the Corps of Engineers, and Seminoe in Wyoming, operated by the Bureau of Reclamation. Seventeen existing hydroelectric plants of 2,500 kilowatts or more installed capac- ity, operated by non-Federal public agencies or by private utilities, provide a total installation of 500,548 kilowatts. The largest of these plants are Holter, Rainbow, Ryan and Morony, operated by the Montana Power Co.; North Platte, Jeffrey Canyon, John- son No. 1 and No. 2, and Columbus, operated by the Nebraska Public Power Districts; and the Osage, Bagnell Dam, plant of the Union Elec- tric Co. of Missouri. The total installed capacity of these 26 existing hydroelectric plants is 613,948 kilowatts, as shown in table 2. In addition there are 48 small utility plants of less than 2,500-kilo- watt capacity having a total installation of 28,676 kilowatts and 6 hydroelectric plants of industrial establishments having an installed capacity of 9,704 kilowatts. The total active storage capacity provided for all purposes, including the hydroelectric plants of the basin, amounts to about 16.3 million acre-feet. The largest of these reservoirs are Fort Peck, Semi- noe, and Lake of the Ozarks. Other reservoirs without power at the sites, such as Hebgen, Path- finder, and Kingsley, bring the total active storage capacity to about 20 million acre-feet. The power market area for hydroelectric power includes all or parts of the 10 basin States. No single integrated power system, but several more or less isolated systems, serve this region. For convenience in studying the present power supply and future power requirements, the Federal Power Commission has subdivided the market area into five subareas (table 1). Total peak demand on the power systems in the area is expected to increase from 3.6 million kilo- watts in 1949 to 8.2 million kilowatts in 1970, a growth of 4.6 million kilowatts. Taking into ac- count retirement of existing capacity and allowing for reasonable operating reserves, it is estimated that approximately 6.6 million kilowatts of additional dependable capacity will be required by 1970. More than 40 percent of the new capacity will be required in the lower basin States, where there are no approved plans for the development of hydro- electric capacity. Because of variations in water supply, substantial amounts of steam capacity will probably be required elsewhere to supplement the possible hydroelectric capacity. These electric load estimates assume prosperous business conditions in a peacetime economy, fuller utilization of the basin's vast resources, and stimu- lation resulting from irrigation developments and from industrial expansions growing out of the avail- ability of large amounts of hydroelectric power at attractive rates. If for any reason these conditions do not materialize, load growth would probably fall short of expectations for 1970. The existence of a military emergency, on the other hand, would increase the rate of growth. Facilities in Construction and Authorized The eight Federal hydroelectric projects under construction will provide initial installations ag- gregating 702,100 kilowatts. The Corps of Engi- neers projects are Garrison, Oahe, and Fort Randall, and the Bureau of Reclamation projects 175 |