Pelton Dam
Pelton Dam is a major dam on the Deschutes River in Jefferson County, Oregon, owned and operated as a hydroelectric facility by Portland General Electric, one element of its Pelton Round Butte Project on the Deschutes.
The concrete arch dam at Pelton dates from 1958, has a height of 204 feet (62 m) from bedrock, a width of 965 feet (294 m) at its crest, and generates 110 megawatts of electricity.[1]
Upstream, to the south, Pelton Dam impounds the waters of the Deschutes to create the deep Lake Simtustus in a relatively narrow canyon about 7 miles (11 km) back to the 1964 Round Butte Dam. The lake has a surface area of about 540 acres (220 ha) and holds 33,190 acre feet (40,940,000 m3) of water. The name "Simtustus" honors a native who scouted for the U.S. Army during the 1867–68 campaign against the Paiutes.[2]
Downstream, 2.5 miles (4 km) north, a regulating dam controls the river flow. The area between is called the Pelton Regulating Reservoir. In 1982 the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs installed a hydroelectric turbine unit in the regulating dam for additional power.[3] Between 2000 and 2005 the CTWS also asserted itself as a stakeholder in the project's re-licensing negotiations between Portland General Electric and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, winning key environmental, cultural, and water rights concessions.[4]
References
- http://www.unep.org/dams/documents/ell.asp?story_id=135
- http://aol.research.pdx.edu/atlas_pages/AOL_261.pdf
- "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2012-06-09. Retrieved 2011-04-01.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
- http://www.unep.org/dams/documents/ell.asp?story_id=135