PUD continues turbine replacement at Wanapum Dam
Power generation increases 14 percent
EPHRATA — Last week the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission approved continuing replacement of aging turbines at Wanapum Dam to improve power generating efficiency and fish passage survival.
The Grant County Public Utility District installed the first Advanced Hydro-Turbine System in February and tested it for power output, efficiency and fish passage survival rates. Before the PUD could replace nine other aging turbines at the dam, FERC needed evidence the new turbine either improved or equaled survival rates for juvenile salmon compared to an existing adjacent turbine.
A test was conducted from February through April of this year using more than 8,000 fish. The new turbine's survival rates proved as efficient as the existing turbine. The new advanced design turbine exceeded fish survival rates compared to other Columbia river hydroelectric plants, the final report showed.
"We are thrilled to receive approval from FERC to carry on with this important work," said PUD Commission President Bill Bjork. "Grant PUD operates with the belief that power generation and fish protection are compatible and sustainable. The focus on this advanced turbine is a tribute to this belief."
According to the PUD's side-by-side turbine study, the advanced design turbine increased power generation by 14 percent and improved water use efficiency by 3 percent, an important feature in periods of critically low river flows.
PUD officials said the turbine will also reduce maintenance costs.
The U.S. Department of Energy and the hydropower industry funded a multi-year research and development program to design the advanced turbine technology. The PUD's installation and operation of the new turbines will mark the first commercial application of the technology.
The PUD already started to disassemble a second turbine at Wanapum Dam in preparation for the next installation and expects to replace one of the aged turbines every nine months.
The project is scheduled to be finished in 2012 and cost approximately $150 million.