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56-628: PacifiCorp decommissioned the project due to rising environmental costs, and the dam was intentionally breached on October 26, 2011. Condit Dam was the largest dam ever removed in the United States until the Elwha Ecosystem Restoration Project on the Olympic Peninsula removed the larger Elwha Dam and Glines Canyon Dam . The White Salmon is a glacier -fed river originating on the slopes of Mount Adams and emptying into

112-502: A woodstave pipeline that transported water to a surge tank and auxiliary spillway ; two penstocks ; and the powerhouse. Two horizontally mounted Francis turbines and generators produced electrical power, and the exhausted water rejoined the river about a mile downstream of the dam. The original design had fish ladders , which were twice destroyed by floods shortly after the dam's completion. The Washington State Fisheries Department then required Northwestern Electric to participate in

168-402: A daily reservoir draw-down and refill cycle. The cycling was timed to meet peak electrical demands; both turbines operated during hours of high electrical demand and the reservoir was drawn down. A single turbine operated during low electrical demand hours while the reservoir refilled. A similar cycle was used when inflow was less than enough for a single turbine. A weekly cycle was superimposed on

224-546: A fish hatchery instead of rebuilding the fish ladders. This ended natural salmonid migration on the river. In 1996, the federal government ordered PacifiCorp to alter the dam and add fish ladders to meet environmental codes. PacifiCorp deemed the modifications too expensive, and asked to decommission the dam, instead. The project operated under annual license extensions until the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) approved decommissioning. The dam

280-433: A global testing ground for 10–50 MW run-of-river technology . As of March 2010, there were 628 applications pending for new water licences solely for power generation, representing more than 750 potential points of river diversion. In undeveloped areas, new access roads and transmission lines can cause habitat fragmentation , allowing the introduction of invasive species. Run-of-the-river projects strongly depend on

336-562: A holding company, PacifiCorp, headquartered in Portland with Pacific Power as its main subsidiary. Utah Power and Light (UP&L) was organized on 6 September 1912 from the merger of four electric companies in Utah, Idaho and Wyoming and was a Salt Lake City subsidiary of a large holding company, Electric Bond and Share Company (EBASCO) of New York. Within four years of its organization, UP&L had purchased twenty-seven other electric companies in

392-402: A maximum of 1,400 ft³/s (40 m³/s) and operate efficiently with as little as 1,100 ft³/s (31 m³/s). In this flow range, the plant operated as a run-of-river project. Inflow equaled outflow, and both turbines operated continuously to supply base load electricity. When river flow was not quite enough for two turbines, operation was cycled between running one and both turbines, based on

448-667: A mining company known as NERCO , which was eventually listed on the New York Stock Exchange and ranked as high as 353 on the Fortune 500 list of the largest American companies. Through its majority interest in NERCO, PacifiCorp was involved in the mining of coal, oil, natural gas, gold, silver, and uranium. PacifiCorp still owned 82% of NERCO in 1993, when it was acquired by the mining giant Rio Tinto Group . In August 1987, PacifiCorp agreed to acquire Utah Power & Light. The merger

504-465: A new sand bar is expected to form at the mouth of the White Salmon River, interfering with Native American fishing rights, for which PacifiCorp will pay a settlement. Opposition to the dam removal came from Klickitat and Skamania County governments. Objections revolved around the loss of lake-front property and water recreation, loss of wetlands and water habitat, and a perception that PacifiCorp

560-552: Is 10,556MW. Of this, 56% is coal, 24% is natural gas, 10% is hydroelectric, and 10% is renewable. Major generation facilities include: PacifiCorp also owns and operates several captive coal mines located at or very near some of its generation plants. In Wyoming, PacifiCorp operates and has partial interest in Jim Bridger Mine and owns the Dave Johnston Mine, which is in final reclamation. The company also owned and operated

616-762: Is an electric power company based in the Lloyd Center Tower in Portland, Oregon with operations in the western United States . PacifiCorp has two business units: Pacific Power , a regulated electric utility with service territory throughout Oregon, northern California, and southeastern Washington headquartered in Portland, Oregon ; and Rocky Mountain Power , a regulated electric utility with service territory throughout Utah , Wyoming , and southeastern Idaho, headquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah . PacifiCorp operates one of

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672-417: Is considered an "unfirm" source of power: a run-of-the-river project has little or no capacity for energy storage and so cannot co-ordinate the output of electricity generation to match consumer demand. It thus generates much more power when seasonal river flows are high (spring freshet ), and depending on location, much less during drier summer months or frozen winter months. Depending on location and type,

728-501: Is generally used to cover exclusively short-term peak times electricity demand. Diversion Weir is also heavily dependent on the natural river flow. Similar to a regular dam, water is stored from lull periods to be used during peak-times. This allows for the pondage dams to provide for the regulation of daily and/or weekly flows depending on location. When developed with care to footprint size and location, run-of-the-river hydro projects can create sustainable energy minimizing impacts to

784-521: Is planning to source 56% of its yearly consumption with renewable energy by 2040. Pacific Power & Light was formed in 1910 from the merger of several financially troubled utilities in Oregon and Washington to form the Pacific Power & Light Company . It gradually expanded its reach to include most of Oregon, as well as portions of California, Washington and Wyoming. In 1984, it reorganized itself as

840-441: Is rated at 1,853 MW. Some run-of-the-river projects are downstream of other dams and reservoirs. The reservoir was not built by the project but takes advantage of the water supplied by it. An example would be the 1995 1,436 MW La Grande-1 generating station . Previous upstream dams and reservoirs were part of the 1980s James Bay Project . There are also small and somewhat-mobile forms of a run-of-the-river power plants. One example

896-653: Is the so-called electricity buoy , a small floating hydroelectric power plant . Like most buoys, it is anchored to the ground, in this case in a river. The energy within the moving water propels a power generator and thereby creates electricity. Prototypes by commercial producers are generating power on the Middle Rhine river in Germany and on the Danube river in Austria. The advantages and disadvantages of run-of-river dams depends on

952-448: Is usually built to create a headpond ensuring that there is enough water entering the penstock pipes that lead to the turbines , which are at a lower elevation. Projects with pondage, as opposed to those without pondage, can store water for daily load demands. In general, projects divert some or most of a river's flow (up to 95% of mean annual discharge) through a pipe and/or tunnel leading to electricity-generating turbines, then return

1008-594: The Columbia River . Condit Dam is about 3.3 miles (5.3 km) upstream of the confluence. The area below the dam is part of the Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area, while parts of the river upstream belong to the National Wild and Scenic Rivers system. The area is famous for its natural environment and recreational activities such as whitewater rafting and fishing . Impoundment of

1064-712: The Deer Creek Mine in Utah, near the Huntington Plant but closed it in 2015 and has a partial interest in the Trapper Mine in Colorado. Calling it a "new era of utility involvement in transportation electrification," the Portland Business Journal in 2018 described PacifiCorp's electric vehicle promotion program as a plan that promises new electric vehicle charging sites, outreach and education efforts. The program

1120-500: The National Forest Service, believed that the long-term benefits of removing the dam far outweighed the short-term damage done by flushed sedimentation. Some fish and environmental advocates see this case as an important precedent for dam removals to restore free-flowing rivers. 45°46′02″N 121°32′16″W  /  45.76722°N 121.53778°W  / 45.76722; -121.53778 PacifiCorp PacifiCorp

1176-918: The World . Their demands were 25-cent per day pay raise, better food and accommodations, and an end to discrimination against the workers. Once complete, electricity was primarily supplied to the Crown Willamette Paper Company in Camas, Washington , and surplus power was sold to Portland customers via a power line across the Columbia River. The project was acquired in 1947 by its current owner, PacifiCorp. The facility consisted of Condit Dam 45°46′02″N 121°32′16″W  /  45.76722°N 121.53778°W  / 45.76722; -121.53778 in Klickitat County , and its impoundment, Northwestern Lake ;

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1232-404: The appeal as a backup plan in case decommissioning application failed. After PacifiCorp's license application failed in 1993, FERC prepared an environmental impact statement that proposed installation of a state-of-the-art fish passage system as conditions for license renewal. The enhancements were to include fish ladders to allow upstream migrations of spawning salmon, and other modifications of

1288-466: The commercial and trading operations of the company. PacifiCorp owns 68 generating plants with a capacity of 9,140 megawatts. 70.6% of the generation is from thermal sources (i.e., coal or natural gas), 6.7% from hydroelectric sources, and 0.2% from renewable sources. 22.5% of PacifiCorp's generation is purchased from other suppliers or under contracts. The company is planning on keeping only 3 of its 22 coal-fired power stations operational beyond 2040 and

1344-508: The consistent flow of water, as they lack reservoirs and depend on the natural flow of rivers. Consequently, these projects are more vulnerable to climate change compared to storage-based projects. Short-term climate anomalies such as the El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) [1] can significantly disrupt the flow and can have a profound impact on the operation of these projects. Thus, incorporating climate change considerations into

1400-484: The cost of dam removal. The main parties involved in negotiations were federal regulatory bodies such as the National Marine Fisheries Service , Native American tribal governments with interests in the area, and a number of local and national environmental groups. PacifiCorp's decommissioning plan differed from FERC's decommissioning proposal in how the sediment behind the dam is treated. FERC's plan

1456-446: The daily cycle that tended to draw down the reservoir during the week and allowed it refill during the weekend. In these cases, known as load factoring, the plant operated as a peaking plant . This mode of operation was greatly reduced through the 1980s and 1990s to appease lakefront cabin owners. According to Federal Power Act of 1920, hydropower producers are periodically required to apply for license renewal from FERC. Condit's license

1512-420: The dam and operating procedures to allow a 95% survival rate of downstream migrating salmon. These conditions were based on National Marine Fisheries Service requirements. FERC's report also reviewed options to decommissioning the project, which it estimated would cost twice as much as the fish passage system. The investment needed to comply with the new requirements was estimated at $ 30 to $ 50 million, while at

1568-402: The dam as a less expensive alternative to fish ladders. This type of proposal was previously rejected by FERC. The sediment plume was expected to kill some aquatic life below the dam and displace fish as far downstream as Bonneville dam . It could also harm several generations of a threatened chum salmon population. Most environmental groups involved with the decommissioning plan, as well as

1624-421: The dam's inside face, and when breached, the reservoir was expected to drain within six hours, but actually drained much faster, in only about 30 minutes. The rest of the dam was cut into blocks and removed for disposal or recycling on-site. As of the date of demolition, Condit dam was the largest dam ever removed for environmental reasons and the largest dam ever removed in the United States. The quick drainage of

1680-412: The electricity needed by consumers and industry. Moreover, run-of-the-river hydroelectric plants do not have reservoirs, thus eliminating the methane and carbon dioxide emissions caused by the decomposition of organic matter in the reservoir of a conventional hydroelectric dam. That is a particular advantage in tropical countries, where methane generation can be a problem. Without a reservoir, flooding of

1736-543: The following exceptions: Bountiful, Kaysville, Lehi, Logan, Provo, Murray, Monroe, Monticello, Springville, St. George Buffalo, Casper, Cody, Douglas, Evanston, Green River, Kemmerer, Lander, Laramie, Rawlins, Riverton, Rock Springs, Thermopolis In 2023, a jury ordered PacifiCorp to pay $ 70 million in punitive damages to 17 homeowners negatively impacted by the 2020 Oregon wildfires . In August 2024, PacifiCorp revealed that it faced at least $ 46 billion in claims resulting from four separate class action complaints related to

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1792-675: The general Utah area, and eventually absorbed more than one hundred thirty. In 1881, one of those companies had made Salt Lake City the fifth city in the world with central station electricity. In 1954, Pacific Power & Light merged with the Mountain States Power Company , essentially doubling the company's service area. In 1961, the company purchased the California Oregon Power Company, extending its service into southern Oregon and northern California. In 1977, PacifiCorp spun off its coal mining interests into

1848-635: The largest privately held transmission systems in the U.S. within the western Energy Imbalance Market. Pacific Power and Rocky Mountain Power combined serve over 1.6 million residential customers, 202,000 commercial customers, and 37,000 industrial and irrigation customers, for a total of approximately 1,813,000 customers. The service area is 143,000 square miles (370,000 km ). The company owns and maintains 16,500 miles (26,600 km) of long-distance transmission lines, 64,000 miles (103,000 km) of distribution lines, and 900 substations. PacifiCorp owns, maintains and operates generation assets and manages

1904-433: The plant will most likely have a lower head of water than from a dam, and will thus generate less power. The potential power at a site is a result of the head and flow of water. By damming a river, the head is available to generate power at the face of the dam. A dam may create a reservoir hundreds of kilometres long, but in run-of-the-river the head is usually delivered by a canal, pipe or tunnel constructed upstream of

1960-412: The plant will operate as an intermittent energy source . Conventional hydro uses reservoirs , which regulate water for flood control , dispatchable electrical power , and the provision of fresh water for agriculture . Run-of-the-river, or ROR, hydroelectricity is considered ideal for streams or rivers that can sustain a minimum flow or those regulated by a lake or reservoir upstream. A small dam

2016-442: The power house. The cost of upstream construction makes a steep drop desirable, such as falls or rapids. Small, well-sited run-of-the-river projects can be developed with minimal environmental impacts. Larger projects have more environmental concerns. For fish-bearing rivers, a ladder may be required, and dissolved gases downstream may affect fish. In British Columbia , the mountainous terrain and wealth of big rivers have made it

2072-751: The previous rates until 2035. Pacific Power serves customers in Washington , Oregon and California . Major cities served include: As of December 31, 2009, Pacific Power serves 555,070 customers in Oregon, 126,665 customers in Washington, and 45,148 customers in California. Rocky Mountain Power serves customers in Idaho, Utah, and Wyoming. Major cities served include: Ammon, Lava Hot Springs, Malad City, Montpelier, Preston, Rigby, Rexburg, Saint Anthony, Shelley Rocky Mountain Power serves most major cities in Utah, with

2128-432: The project to be economically viable, it would have to have produced power at $ 45 to $ 50 per MWh. The report further stated that power produced at Condit would have been more expensive than a gas-fired plant for more than 20 years after its acquisition. In July 2006, KPUD and Skamania County announced a new effort to acquire the project from PacifiCorp and preserve the dam. Their plan relied on trucking spawning salmon around

2184-415: The reservoir flushed a large amount of sediment quickly, helping to create a new river channel above the dam. The remaining sediment will continue to erode until vegetation takes root. The sediment plume will harm the aquatic ecosystem temporarily; in the case of bull trout , it will be a negative influence for two years, after which it will be a positive influence due to improved ecosystem nutrition. Also,

2240-413: The residential rate for their excess energy that got sent back into the energy grid. As of August 2018, new rooftop solar installations were down 23 percent, likely due to the cancellation of the net metering program. New solar customers are paid by a transitional program that pays slightly less than the residential rate until 2033. People who installed solar panels prior to November 2017 are grandfathered at

2296-464: The river about a mile downstream. Additional flow beyond what the turbines could use was discharged through five tainter gates and two sluice gates. The dam crest had a pneumatically actuated hinged crest gate , which was designed to fail catastrophically as a safety relief when flow exceeds 18000 ft³/s (510 m³/s). The river averages 1125 ft³/s (32 m³/s), with flows up to 3500 ft³/s (99 m³/s) being fairly common. The two turbines could use

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2352-462: The river in 1911 removed 33 miles (53 km) of steelhead habitat and 14 miles (23 km) of salmon habitat. The Condit Hydroelectric Project, named after its lead engineer B.C. Condit, was built by Northwestern Electric Company in 1913. During the construction, all 242 workers at the project went on strike and voted unanimously for the strike to be managed by the Industrial Workers of

2408-581: The run of the river flows for generation of power with sufficient pondage for supplying water for meeting diurnal or weekly fluctuations of demand. In such stations, the normal course of the river is not materially altered. Many of the larger run-of-the-river projects have been designed to a scale and generating capacity rivaling some traditional hydroelectric dams. For example, the Beauharnois Hydroelectric Generating Station in Quebec

2464-498: The same time reducing the amount of water available for power production. PacifiCorp decided the project was no longer economically viable, and began negotiations for decommissioning. In 1999, PacifiCorp announced an agreement had been reached, at which point they applied to FERC for approval. The plan called for dam removal to begin in 2006 and capped PacifiCorp's liability at $ 17.5 million. In 2005, they applied for an operating extension to 2008, to earn another $ 3.3 million to help offset

2520-417: The surrounding environment and nearby communities. Run-of-the-river harnesses the natural potential energy of water by eliminating the need to burn coal or natural gas to generate the electricity needed by consumers and industry. Advantages include: Like all hydro-electric power, run-of-the-river harnesses the natural potential energy of water by eliminating the need to burn coal or natural gas to generate

2576-812: The term "run-of-the-river" for power projects varies around the world. Some may consider a project run-of-the-river if power is produced with no water storage, but limited storage is considered run-of-the-river by others. Developers may mislabel a project run-of-the-river to soothe public perception about its environmental or social effects. The European Network of Transmission System Operators for Electricity distinguishes run-of-the-river and pondage hydropower plants, which can hold enough water to allow generation for up to 24 hours (reservoir capacity / generating capacity ≤ 24 hours), from reservoir hydropower plants, which hold far more than 24 hours of generation without pumps. The Bureau of Indian Standards describes run-of-the-river hydroelectricity as: A power station utilizing

2632-406: The type, the following sections generally refer to Dam-Toe unless otherwise stated. These are listed in order of least impact to most impact, as well as (on average) requisite project size. Dam-toe has no flow regulation and utilizes the natural flow of the river to turn the turbines. Electricity generation is heavily dependent on river flow. Diversion Weir has very little flow regulation, which

2688-450: The upper part of the river does not take place. As a result, people remain living at or near the river and existing habitats are not flooded. Any pre-existing pattern of flooding will continue unaltered, which presents a flood risk to the facility and downstream areas. Due to their low impact, run-of-the-river dams can be implemented in existing irrigation dams with little to no change in the local fluvial ecosystem. Run-of-the-river power

2744-436: The water back to the river downstream. Run-of-the-river projects are dramatically different in design and appearance from conventional hydroelectric projects. Traditional hydroelectric dams store enormous quantities of water in reservoirs , sometimes flooding large tracts of land. In contrast, run-of-river projects do not have the disadvantages associated with reservoirs and so cause fewer environmental impacts. The use of

2800-435: The wildfires. Run-of-river Run-of-river hydroelectricity ( ROR ) or run-of-the-river hydroelectricity is a type of hydroelectric generation plant whereby little or no water storage is provided. Run-of-the-river power plants may have no water storage at all or a limited amount of storage, in which case the storage reservoir is referred to as pondage . A plant without pondage is subject to seasonal river flows, so

2856-496: Was breached at noon (Pacific Time) on October 26, 2011. At the time, it was the largest U.S. dam to be removed. The Elwha Ecosystem Restoration Project on the Olympic Peninsula has since removed the larger Elwha and Glines Canyon Dams. Condit Dam was required to discharge at least 15 ft³/s (0.4 m³/s) to keep the river channel viable. Surplus water was used by the turbines for electrical power generation and returned to

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2912-512: Was choosing the cheapest way to abandon the project, rather than paying for FERC's preferred solution (a fish passage system), which some believed was the best solution for all parties. The Klickitat Public Utility District Board of Commissioners investigated acquiring the project from Pacificorp to continue its operation as a power plant. A 2002 study commissioned from CH2M Hill calculated that purchasing and upgrading as required by FERC would have led to power production at $ 64 per MWh, and that for

2968-583: Was completed in January 1989. In 2001, PacifiCorp was acquired by Scottish Power . In 2006, PacifiCorp was acquired by Berkshire Hathaway Energy , a division of Berkshire Hathaway , for $ 5.1 billion in cash. In a July 2006 reorganization, Pacific Power's territory in central and eastern Wyoming was merged with the Utah Power territory to form Rocky Mountain Power. In these tables of generation properties owned or partially-owned by PacifiCorp, total capacity

3024-494: Was last reviewed in 1991, when it failed approval, and expired in 1993. From 1993 until 2011, PacifiCorp operated the plant under annual license extensions while it sought approval from FERC for the decommissioning. In December 2005, PacifiCorp filed an appeal of FERC's 1991 license rejection under the Bush administration's 2005 energy bill, which allows power producers to challenge licensing requirements retroactively. PacifiCorp explained

3080-526: Was spawn from legislation passed in 2016 that called for more renewable energy from the state's utility companies. As of May 1, 2007, Rocky Mountain Power serves approximately 758,000 customers in Utah, 129,000 customers in Idaho, and 67,000 customers in Wyoming. In November 2017, Rocky Mountain Power made a deal with Utah's utility authorities to phase out net metering . The program was paying customers who generated their own electricity with rooftop solar panels

3136-410: Was to dredge or bypass the sediment while PacifiCorp's plan used the demolition of the dam to quickly flush as much sediment as possible, thereby minimizing the amount of time the sediment plume harmed downstream aquatic life. Breaching the dam involved cutting a 12 x 18 x 100-foot (30 m) tunnel in its base; the final 15 feet (4.6 m) was drilled and blasted. A dredge removed woody sediment from

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