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Show TABLE 1.-Estimated electric power demand, 1970 Subarea Installed capacity (1949) Actual peak demand 1949 Estimated peak demand by 1970 Estimated additional Fuel Hydro Total capacity needed by 1970 A......... 1,000 kilowatts 4 253 298 1,129 1,718 1,000 kilowatts 271 111 9 152 254 1,000 kilowatts 275 364 307 1,281 1,972 1,000 kilowatts 326 335 257 972 1,666 1,000 kilowatts 504 957 784 2,467 3,514 1,000 kilowatts 320 B............................... 830 C......... 685 D......... 2,025 2,760 E............................ Total........................... 3,402 797 4,199 3,556 8,226 6,620 Subareas axe as follows: A-western three-fourths of Montana, except that part west of the Continental Divide, and in the Columbia Basin; B-most of Wyoming, northeast Colorado, western Nebraska; C-eastern Montana, all of North Dakota, northern South Dakota, western Minnesota; D-eastern three-fourths of Nebraska, southern three-fourths of South Dakota, western three-fifths of Iowa; E-northern two-thirds of Kansas and Missouri, southeast Iowa. Source: DFederal Power Commission. are Canyon Ferry, Boysen, Kortes, Marys Lake, and Estes. The first generating unit of the Kortes plant is abready in operation. There are no non- Federal hydroelectric plants under construction. Twenty Federal projects which will include power facilities have been authorized or approved, and additional capacity is authorized at four other projects. The total authorized installed capacity is 1,782,000 kilowatts. The Corps of Engineers' authorized projects are Big Bend and Gavins Point. The Burea/u of Reclamation's projects are Portage, Lyon, Mission, Bald Ridge, Sunlight, Thief Creek, Hunter Mountain, Yellowtail, Tongue River, Kenil, Miller Power Drop, Crosby, Des Lacs, Angostura, Pole Hill, Flat Iron, Alcova, and Big Thompson. Additional capacity is authorized at Garrison, Oahe, and Fort Randall, now under con- struction, and at Fort Peck. The active storage capacity at projects under construction amounts to 31,860,000 acre-feet, and that to be developed at authorized projects is 2,267,- 000 acre-feet. The capacity of the various plants is shown in table 3. The largest reservoirs are Garrison, Oahe, Fort Randall, and Canyon Ferry, all on the main stem. Situation at the End of the Present Program After coanpletion of the projects under construc- tion and authorized, the 36 Federal hydroelectric plants would have a total installed capacity of 2.6 million kilowatts. If to these totals are added the capacity and generation of the 17 non-Federal plants, basin total at the end of the present program would amount to 3 million kilowatts of installed capacity. The total active storage capacity that would be provided by all projects, including those under con- struction and authorized, would amount to some 50 million acre-feet. Potentialities Preliminary studies by various agencies indicate that after completion of projects under construc- tion and authorized, undeveloped hydroelectric power potentialities in the basin would total some 6.1 million kilowatts of installed capacity. The usable storage capacity of the undeveloped projects is approximately 16 million acre-feet. However, further study is required to determine more definitely the details and desirability of such projects. For example, the totals include some 2.2 million kilowatts of capacity that might be devel- oped in connection with slack-water navigation on the Missouri River below Yankton. Such possi- bilities are contingent on solving such difficult prob- lems as that of sedimentation, obtaining adequate foundations for project structures, pollution, valley 176 |