Bedford Hydropower Project | |
---|---|
Location | Bedford County, Virginia / Amherst County, Virginia, U.S. |
Coordinates | 37°34′24.85″N79°22′17.53″W / 37.5735694°N 79.3715361°W Coordinates: 37°34′24.85″N79°22′17.53″W / 37.5735694°N 79.3715361°W |
Purpose | Hydroelectric, Recreation, Fish and Wildlife Pond |
Status | In use |
Owner(s) | Town of Bedford, Virginia |
Operator(s) | Town of Bedford, Virginia |
Dam and spillways | |
Type of dam | Concrete gravity |
Impounds | James River |
Height | 19.6 ft (6.0 m) [1] |
Power Station | |
Operator(s) | Town of Bedford, Virginia |
Turbines | 2 |
Installed capacity | 4.5 MW |
Annual generation | 12,284.7 MWH (2018) [2] |
FERC Number: 5596 |
The Bedford Hydropower Project (Snowden) is a hydroelectric generation facility on the James River near the community of Big Island, Virginia. The project includes a low head structure completely spanning the river; river flow is split into a concrete canal leading to the hydroelectric generation facility and the natural river course. [3]
Dam and hydroelectric plant are located approximately one mile downstream of the larger Cushaw Hydroelectric Project; the address of the project is 7443 Elon Road (Virginia Route 130), Big Island, Virginia. This dam is the middle of three dams in rapid succession; the Big Island Dam is located several miles downstream.
The project consists of a canal along the left bank of the river leading to the buttressed power plant structure and an adjacent run of the river bypass of natural riverbed past the low head dam. A public fishing area is located at the Project upstream of the canal headgates; a canoe portage is also provided. [4]
The project is operated by the Town and is manned at least two hours per day, seven days a week. Additionally, the plant is monitored remotely and an automated call system alerts Town personnel of abnormal conditions. [5]
The James River is a river in the U.S. state of Virginia that begins in the Appalachian Mountains and flows 348 miles (560 km) to Chesapeake Bay. The river length extends to 444 miles (715 km) if one includes the Jackson River, the longer of its two source tributaries. It is the longest river in Virginia. Jamestown and Williamsburg, Virginia’s first colonial capitals, and Richmond, Virginia's current capital, lie on the James River.
Jennings Randolph Lake is a reservoir of 952 acres (3.85 km2) located on the North Branch Potomac River in Garrett County, Maryland and Mineral County, West Virginia. It is approximately eight miles upstream of Bloomington, Maryland, and approximately five miles north of Elk Garden, West Virginia.
Nagarjuna Sagar Dam is a masonry dam across the Krishna River at Nagarjuna Sagar which straddles the border between Nalgonda district in Telangana and Guntur district in Andhra Pradesh. The dam provides irrigation water to the Nalgonda, Suryapet, Krishna, Khammam, West Godavari, Guntur, and Prakasam districts along with electricity generation.
Condit Hydroelectric Project was a development on the White Salmon River in the U.S. state of Washington. It was completed in 1913 to provide electrical power for local industry, and is listed in the National Register of Historic Places as an engineering and architecture landmark.
The Srisailam Dam is constructed across the Krishna River in Kurnool district, Andhra Pradesh near Srisailam temple town and is the 2nd largest capacity working hydroelectric station in the country.
Ghazi-Barotha Hydropower Project is a 1,450 MW run-of-the-river hydropower connected to the Indus River about 10 km (6.2 mi) west of Attock in Punjab and east of Swabi and Haripur districts in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. Construction of the project that began in 1995 consists of 5 generators each with a maximum power generation capacity of 290MW. Inauguration of the plant on 19 August 2003 by President General Pervez Musharraf also saw the commissioning of the first 2 of the 5 generators i.e. Unit 1 and Unit 2. The last generator was commissioned on 6 April 2004 and the project was completed by that December. It cost US$2.1 billion with funding from Pakistan's Water and Power Development Authority, the World Bank, Asian Development Bank, Japan Bank for International Cooperation, Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau, European Investment Bank and Islamic Development Bank.
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, thus 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.
The Tinker Dam is a hydroelectric dam built in Tinker on the Aroostook River in the Canadian province of New Brunswick, and operated jointly by WPS Energy and NB Power. Its power house has a capacity of 34 megawatts.
Asahi Dam (朝日ダム) is a dam built on the class 1 Hida River, located in the city of Takayama, Gifu Prefecture, Japan.
Mammoth Pool Dam is a hydroelectric dam located on the San Joaquin River in the southern Sierra Nevada mountain range of California, about 45 miles (72 km) northeast of Fresno. It forms Mammoth Pool Reservoir and lies within the Sierra National Forest. The dam and reservoir were named after a large natural pool in the river that was once located above the present dam site.
The Big Creek Hydroelectric Project is an extensive hydroelectric power scheme on the upper San Joaquin River system, in the Sierra Nevada of central California. The project is owned and operated by Southern California Edison (SCE). The use and reuse of the waters of the San Joaquin River, its South Fork, and the namesake of the project, Big Creek – over a vertical drop of 6,200 ft (1,900 m) – have over the years inspired a nickname, "The Hardest Working Water in the World".
The Yuba–Bear Hydroelectric Project is a complex hydroelectric scheme in the northern Sierra Nevada in California, tapping the upper Yuba River and Bear River drainage basins. The project area encompasses approximately 400 square miles (1,000 km2) in Nevada, Placer, and Sierra Counties. Owned by the Nevada Irrigation District, it consists of 16 storage dams plus numerous diversion and regulating dams, and four generating stations producing 425 million kilowatt hours of electricity each year. The Yuba–Bear Hydroelectric Project consists of the Bowman development, Dutch Flat No. 2 development, Chicago Park development, and Rollins development.
The Upper North Fork Feather River Project is a hydroelectric scheme in the Sierra Nevada of California, within Lassen and Plumas Counties. The project consists of three dams, five power plants, and multiple conduits and tunnels in the headwaters of the North Fork Feather River, a major tributary of the Feather—Sacramento River systems. The total installed capacity is 362.3 megawatts (MW), producing an annual average of 1,171.9 gigawatt hours (GWh). The project is also contracted for the delivery of irrigation water between March 31 and October 31 of each year. The project is owned and operated by Pacific Gas and Electric Company.
The Cushaw Hydroelectric Project is a 7.5 megawatt (MW) dam and power house facility owned and operated by Virginia Electric Power Company, operating as Dominion Virginia Power.
The Holcomb Rock Dam is a concrete dam across the James River near Lynchburg, Virginia. The project consists of a concrete dam across the river, an earthen embankment canal on the right bank, and a power house where water is discharged to generate electricity. Per the 2008 annual generation report, the project generated 6,089,209 KW-hours.
The Reusens Dam is a 12.5 MW hydroelectric generation facility on the James River near the city of Lynchburg, Virginia. The project includes a concrete gravity dam spanning the left side of river which incorporates eight 16 3/4-foot-high flood gates, a 125 feet long by 25 feet tall concrete arch dam segment with 7 1/4-foot-high flashboards, and two separate power houses towards the right bank which contain hydroelectric generation equipment. The A and B power houses have installed capacities of 7.5 MW with three turbines and 5.0 MW with two turbines, respectively. The plant is used in a peaking capacity. The dam is located downstream of the smaller Holcomb Rock Dam and upstream of the Scotts Mill Dam. The typically submerged Bosher Dam near Richmond lies further downstream.
The Coleman Falls Dam is a hydroelectric generation facility on the James River near the community of Coleman Falls, Virginia. The project includes a gravity dam spanning the left side of river and a power house on the right bank which contain hydroelectric generation equipment.
The Big Island Dam is a hydroelectric generation facility on the James River near the community of Big Island, Virginia. The project includes a gravity dam spanning the left side of river and a power house on the right bank which contain hydroelectric generation equipment. The dam is located adjacent to and integrated with the large Georgia Pacific paper mill at this location.
St. Anthony Falls in Minneapolis, Minnesota, is the only natural falls on the Mississippi River. Since almost the beginning of settlement in the area by European descendants, the St. Anthony Falls have been used for waterpower. The first allowed settlers were at Ft. Snelling, where construction began in 1820. A sawmill was operating 1821 and a flour mill in 1823. As soon as the land at the sides of the falls became available it was purchased with the intent of using the waterpower of the falls. First lumber mills covered the falls, cutting lumber floated down the Mississippi. After 1870 flour mills started to dominate the area. From 1880 to 1930 the area was the number one flour producer in the US. In later years, some of the power came from steam, but in 1923 half of the waterpower used was for flour milling. Other industries have also used the waterpower.