OMAHA - Major rehabilitation of the hydropower generation capabilities at Garrison Dam, N.D., has been accelerated with American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds. The work will lead to more non-polluting electricity from the 22nd largest dam in the world
The Army Corps of Engineers recently awarded an $8.9 million contract to Yellowstone Electric Co., a small business in Billings, Mont. The firm will design and fabricate transformer equipment to increase efficiency and reliability of the five generators. This contract is part of the second of two phases to modernize the generation system at the dam. The work by Yellowstone Electric should be completed in June 2011.
Finished in 1955, many of the components in the powerhouse, switch yards and transmission systems are past their design lives and are less efficient than modern equipment and have reliability problems. Phase I of the rehabilitation replaced the turbine runners and upgraded the generators on all five units.
The dam, located about 80 miles upstream of Bismarck, N.D., can store more than 23.8 million acre feet of Missouri River water. The generators produce enough electricity to meet the needs of more than 206,000 customers and return about $34 million annually to the U.S. Treasury.
The electricity produced at Garrison is marketed by the Western Area Power Administration to utilities and cooperatives throughout the upper Midwest.
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