OCR Text |
Show TABLE 11.-Summary of existing and potential power plants, including power storage at multiple-purpose reservoirs, Ohio River Basin (exclusive of Tennessee River) No. Section of basin Number of power plants Ultimate installed ca- pacity Average an- nual energy Active power storage capa- city includ- ing reservoirs with no power * Above Wheeling 24,800 square miles.......... Wheeling to Tell City 72,200 square miles...... Tell City to Tennessee River 65,000 square miles Total................................ 33 37 34 Kilowatts 1,646,000 2, 202,000 2, 641,000 Million kilo- watt-hours 4,504 9,160 13, 036 7,000 acre-feet 3,900 5,800 7,660 104 6,489, 000 26, 700 17, 360 1 Based on use of reservoirs with additional flood-control capacity as follows: River section, (1) 3,000,000 acre-feet; (2) 8,000,000 acre-feet; (3) 26,000,000 acre-feet. Tennessee River flood control capacity (11,700,000 acre-feet) is not included. Source: Federal Power Commission purpose reservoirs. On the main stem of the Ohio power potentials are related to improved and mod- ernized navigation facilities with dams higher than at present in order to make power production pos- sible. The 80 other projects would have a com- bined total installation of 5,117,000 kilowatts. In summary, 105 existing and potential hydro- electric developments (table 11) would have 6,489,000 kilowatts installed capacity. Twenty years from now this potential would be about one- half of the estimated power requirement in the Ohio Basin and one-quarter of the requirement for the East-Central region. The total usable power storage at the 104 power projects would be 14,950,- 000 acre-feet. Conservation storage at other po- tential reservoirs with no power increases this figure to about 17.3 million acre-feet. As on other large uncontrolled rivers, only a small part of po- tential power resource can be developed until storage reservoirs are built to regulate the river flow. Opportunity for production of hydroelectric power on the Ohio River will depend on the 35 reservoirs now built or under construction and 80 or more which have been authorized, recommended, or suggested. The reservoirs designed for flood re- duction and low flow augmentation are well distributed on tributary streams where dependable water supply and power can be provided. About one-half of the potential energy indicated above would be on the main stem of the Ohio River. This would be developed in conjunction with the proposed redevelopment of navigation dams. Higher and fewer dams will create power head to use the regulated flow of the river. Power ponds would steady the river flow and power operation would be continuous throughout each day. This power can be made serviceable by providing dams high enough to be above normal high water so that the flood flow which cannot be retained in reser- voirs will cause outage only at certain times, these outages generally coming in January through April when peak power demands are not encountered. The main stem power plants here presented envision a close coordination of operation with power capacity at reservoir plants interconnected with a system of steam-generating plants. As now contemplated, there would be five plants at naviga- tion dams above Huntington, W. Va., two plants at reconstructed navigation dams in the middle Ohio, and the potential lower Ohio-Mississippi de- velopment, which would be the largest potential power plant in the entire basin. These eight main stem plants, with installed capacity of about 1.5 million kilowatts, would generate about 11 billion kilowatt-hours in the average year. The lower Ohio-Mississippi development has been considered, but only in a preliminary way at present, as a coordinated project involving the Ohio, Cumberland, and Mississippi Rivers. A reservoir on the Cumberland and Ohio Rivers near the mouth of the former might be created by a dam across the Ohio in the vicinity of Dog Island at the 652 1 2 3 |