Hydro

The Dalles Power Plant

Northern Wasco County PUD’s North Shore Hydroelectric project at The Dalles Dam produced its first commercial power on May 28th 1991. The five Megawatt generator uses attraction water from The Dalles dam’s north fishladder for power production. Water entering the system from the dams’ forebay is screened to prevent juvenile salmon or other small fish from entering the unit’s turbine.

 

The Dalles HydroElectric Project

 

The powerhouse has produced 630,293 Mwh’s of power since it started, which is enough to heat and light about 1000 average homes per year. Currently the power produced by The Dalles plant is being sold to Puget Sound Energy on a long term contract due to expire in 2011. It is anticipated that when that contract has been completed, the power produced will be transmitted to The Dalles and used locally.


McNary Hydroelectric Project

McNary North shore hydroelectric project was completed and started production on October 17th 1997. The unit is located on the north fishladder at McNary dam and uses the fishladder’s attraction water in the same way The Dalles project does.

 

The Dalles HydroElectric Project

 

The intake structure at McNary is located at the bottom of the dam and draws water from about 80 ft below the surface of the forebay. The generator at McNary produces ten Mwh’s of power, which is split equally with our partner Klickitat County PUD. NWCPUD’s portion of the power produced at McNary is transmitted to The Dalles and is used as base load power at the utility.

 

The average yearly production at McNary is about 76,000 Mwh’s.NWCPUD’s portion produced by McNary will serve about 1000 home per year.