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Hoover Dam upgrades cost $ but increase efficiency

Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on November 21, 2009 at 7:12 am

Hoover Dam & Power LinesFrom KOLO Channel 8 (Reno):

“Hot weather brings a spike in demand for water and power, so Hoover Dam keeps humming all summer long.

Things tend to quiet down from October to April, so that’s when workers try to catch up on equipment upgrades and large-scale maintenance projects.

Lately, a lot of that work has been geared toward improving power plant performance in the face of the lowest water levels in the Lake Mead reservoir since 1965.

The dam’s power customers plan to spend millions of dollars to squeeze more electricity from the same amount of water and compensate for a loss of power capacity as a result of the shrinking lake.

The surface of the reservoir dropped 120 feet in the last decade, as the Colorado River came under the grip of the worst drought on record and increased demand. The resulting loss of water pressure – known as power head – has reduced the dam’s power generating capacity by 20 percent. … “

Read more from KOLO TV by clicking here.

November 21, 2009 · Filed Under Las Vegas & Nevada

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