| OCR Text |
Show The primary power equivalent of the unregu- lated flow at these seven dams would be approxi- mately 114,800 kilowatts. Regulation more than quadruples this figure. In planning the unified development of the Ten- nessee River system,20 proposals were made for river control facilities of 11 major dams producing continuous power of 660,000 kilowatts. This plan also provided for making use of the hydraulic pe- culiarities of the basin streams. The 11 dams were Wilson, Wheeler, Norris, Pickwick, Guntersville, Chickamauga, Hiwassee, Fontana, Watts Bar, Fort Loudoun, and Kentucky. The 11-dam system (made 12 by the purchase of Hales Bar Dam from the Tennessee Electric Power Co.) had not been completed when the military needs of "World War II forced an expansion and acceleration of the construction program. Ken- tucky, Watts Bar, Fort Loudoun, and Fontana were completed during the war. New structures in- cluded Ocoee No. 3 on the Ocoee River, Cherokee Dam on the Holston, Apalachia Dam on the Hi- wassee River, and Douglas Dam on the French Broad. With these projects in progress, the largest power- producing- sites in the Tennessee River system had been used, yet the demand for power was still un- satisfied. This resulted in the construction of steam plants. A modern steam plant was completed in 1942 at Watts Bar Dam, with two generating units of 60,000 kilowatts each. Present capacity of this plant is 240,000 kilowatts, the fourth 60,000-kilo- watt unit having been installed in 1945. TVA acquired several steam plants through purchase of the properties of the Tennessee Electric Power Go. Chief of these were the Nashville and Hales Bar steam plants, both of which were old at the time of purchase. The next large addition to the TVA power sys- tem will be a steam plant at Johnsonville, 100 miles up the Tennessee from the Ohio, where coal can be brought in readily by barge. This steam plant will supplement the hydroelectric plants and in- crease the prime power capacity of the whole sys- tem by 675,000 kilowatts. Another steam plant is under construction at Widows Creek, Ala., on the Tennessee River a short distance below Chattanooga. Construction of these " Report *o the Congress on the Unified Development of the Tenixessee River System, submitted by the Board of Directors of the TVA, March 31, 1936 (pursuant to § 2 of the Avct of August 31, 1935, amending § 4(j) of the TVA Act of 1933). plants points up the necessity for supplementing the hydroelectric capacity of the area by steam plants to meet constantly increasing demand. Also under construction and scheduled for com- pletion in 1952 is the Boone Project, with hydro- electric power facilities of 75,000 kilowatts capacity. Located on the Holston River above Kingsport, Boone will provide maximum storage of 100,000 acre-feet which will contribute to the flood protec- tion of Kingsport and to the effectiveness of the TVA system in controlling downstream floods. The Fort Patrick Henry Project has been author- ized and is to be completed in 1953. It will func- tion, in part, as a regulating reservoir to the power developments at the Boone, Watauga, and South Holston multiple-purpose projects. The hydro- electric power capacity at this site will be 36,000 kilowatts. Coordination With Private Company Generation Under the terms of the Fontana agreement, power production of the Aluminum Co. of Amer- ica was integrated with that of TVA. Alcoa plants had been established in the Great Smoky Moun- tains before 1920 in order to make use of low-cost supplies of energy which might be produced in this area. The company had constructed five major hydroelectric dams on the Little Tennessee River and its tributaries and also owned the site at Fon- tana, where an even larger project was planned. The five plants at Calderwood, Cheoah, Thorpe (Glenville), Nantahala, and Santeetlah had in- stalled capacity of 307,300 kilowatts, and were capable of producing nearly 1.8 billion kilowatt- hours annually. Alcoa also owned three small dams at Bryson, Franklin, and Mission, adding about 4,000 kilowatts to its system. For a number of years prior to 1933 this system of dams had been one of the South's largest pro- ducers of hydroelectric energy. With the establish- ment of the TVA system the Aluminum Go. began to purchase power under a number of successive contracts. It was evident that advantages would accrue to both parties through integration of these two large systems. Under the Fontana agreement, entered into August 14, 1941, TVA acquired the site and built a dam at Fontana, on the headwaters of the Little Tennessee, above two of the five dams belonging to the Aluminum Co. The agreement provides for co- ordination of the hydroelectric plants of the Aluminum Co. with the Authority's power plants 726 |
