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Show Existing Hydroelectric Power Facilities The Columbia River is potentially one of the greatest power-producing streams in the world. Although existing hydroelectric developments in the basin account for about a sixth of the developed hydroelectric power capacity of the United States, they utilize less than 10 percent of the potential water power of the basin. There are existing in the Columbia River Basin eight Federal hydroelectric plants having a total in- stalled generating capacity of 1,969,000 kilowatts, with Bonneville and Grand Coulee providing the bulk of the capacity, and 41 existing non-Federal hydroelectric utility plants of 2,500 kilowatts or more installed capacity having an aggregate instal- lation of 931,000 kilowatts. Federal plants, there- fore, account for two-thirds of the total hydro- electric capacity of 2.9 million kilowatts in the watershed. The average annual output of the Federal plants, amounting to 13,782,000,000 kilo- watt-hours, accounts for 70 percent of the total annual hydroelectric generation of 19.9 billion kilowatt-hours in the basin. Not included in the above totals are a large number of smaller electric utility plants and electric plants of industrial estab- lishments, which grouped together have a total in- stalled capacity of some 65,000 kilowatts with average annual generation of 300 million kilowatt- hours. The total active conservation storage capacity of existing hydroelectric developments in the Columbia River Basin amounts to approximately 9.5 million acre-feet. The storage capacity in the Grand Coulee Reservoir accounts for more than one-half of this total. In addition to the storage capacities listed in table 1, there are 25 reser- voirs providing conservation storage capacity which are not listed because power is not developed at the reservoir sites. These projects provide ap- proximately 5 million acre-feet of active storage capacity, although this storage has been developed primarily in connection with irrigation. When existing storage capacities are compared with the large average runoff in the basin, amounting to about 180 million acre-feet annually during the 50 years 1897-1946,1 it is apparent that extensive amounts of additional regulatory storage capacity are necessary for the adequate development and utilization of the water resources of the basin. 1 Corps of Engineers' estimate. TABLE 1.-Existing hydroelectric power developments 10 mantntkmtk ,»,„„ «5Si£!^ Instaned Average annual Active storage Plant name Biver of^^i capacity generation capacity PABT A-----FEDERAL PLANTS 1,000 Wowttt' Kilowatt* hours Acre-feet Grand Coulee, Washington____ Columbia............... BR * 1,424,000 UO, 000,000 5,212,000 Rocky For<i, Washington.-___ Rocky Ford Canal....... BR 187 200____....... Prosser, Washington_________ Yakima.......________ BR 2,400 21,000____....... Minidoka, Idaho.........____ Snake-................_ BR 13,400 100,000 95,000 Boise Rivex, Idaho-.......____ Boise________........ BR 1,500 8,000____....... Black Canyon, Idaho......___ Payette_____.......... BR 8,000 74,000 ____.....- Cove No. 2, Oregon_________ Crooked (Deschutes)____ BR 1,500 1,400-------....... Bonneville,. Oregon__________ Columbia............... CE 518,400 3,578,000 65,000 Total Federal plants (8).....___________.........________ 1, 969,387 13, 782, 600 5, 372, 000 PABT B----NON-FEDERAL PLANTS * Troy, Montana_____________ Lake Creek (Kootenai)___ MLP 4,500 18,000 _____...... Milltown, Xiontana____....._ Clark Fork............_ MP 3,040 22,000 ___________ Big Fork, lVlontana__......... Swan (Flathead Lake)- MSP 4,150 26,801 ____....... Kerr, Montana_________..... Flathead______........ MPR 112,000 700,000 1,217,000 Thompson Tails, Montana..... Clark Fork............. MPR 30,000 292,070 15,000 Post Falls, DEdaho____________ Spokane................ WWP 11,250 86,000 225,000 Spokane, Washington......._______do................_ C of S 3,900 29,278 _____.....-Upper Fallsv, Washington......____do_______________ WWP 10,000 80,000_____...... Monroe Street, Washington.......__do.__.............. WWP 7,200 60,000 _____...... See footnotes at end of table. |
