Box Canyon Dam is a gravity-type
hydroelectric
Hydroelectricity, or hydroelectric power, is electricity generated from hydropower (water power). Hydropower supplies one sixth of the world's electricity, almost 4500 TWh in 2020, which is more than all other renewable sources combined and ...
dam
A dam is a barrier that stops or restricts the flow of surface water or underground streams. Reservoirs created by dams not only suppress floods but also provide water for activities such as irrigation, human consumption, industrial use ...
on the
Pend Oreille River
The Pend Oreille River ( ) is a tributary of the Columbia River, approximately long, in northern Idaho and northeastern Washington in the United States, as well as southeastern British Columbia in Canada. In its passage through British Columbia ...
, in northeastern
Washington state
Washington (), officially the State of Washington, is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. Named for George Washington—the first U.S. president—the state was formed from the western part of the Washington ...
in the United States.
It has a capacity of 90 MW and an average expected production of 60 MW. The
reservoir
A reservoir (; from French ''réservoir'' ) is an enlarged lake behind a dam. Such a dam may be either artificial, built to store fresh water or it may be a natural formation.
Reservoirs can be created in a number of ways, including contro ...
extends . The dam is wide and high at the top of the gates. The maximum head of water is . It produces power using four
Kaplan turbine
The Kaplan turbine is a propeller-type water turbine which has adjustable blades. It was developed in 1913 by Austrian professor Viktor Kaplan, who combined automatically adjusted propeller blades with automatically adjusted wicket gates to ach ...
s. An upgrade completed in 2015 brought the dam's rated capacity up to 90 MW from the original 69 MW.
See also
*
List of dams in the Columbia River watershed
There are more than 60 dams in the Columbia River watershed in the United States and Canada. Tributaries of the Columbia River and their dammed tributaries, as well as the main stem itself, each have their own list below. The dams are listed i ...
References
External links
Dams in Washington (state)
Hydroelectric power plants in Washington (state)
Buildings and structures in Pend Oreille County, Washington
United States local public utility dams
Dams completed in 1956
Energy infrastructure completed in 1956
Dams on the Pend Oreille River
Gravity dams
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