Your PUD
News Release
Public Power Week is Oct. 7-13
Chelan County PUD
News Release
10/1/2007
Public power utilities across the nation celebrate the heritage of service every year in October. During Public Power Week, Oct. 7-13, Chelan County PUD will honor the completion of a major upgrade at Rocky Reach Dam.
"The foundation of public power is remembering our past as we prepare for our future,” said General Manager Rich Riazzi. “Modernizing Rocky Reach Dam, which started production in the 1960s, is an important accomplishment and will ensure it continues to provide clean, renewable hydropower for at least another 40 years.”
New generating units were installed between 1995 and 2006, and a year’s testing is coming to a successful close. The $185 million modernization project included replacing all 11 turbines, generators and related equipment in the Rocky Reach Dam powerhouse.
Technology improvements mean the new units are generating 5.5 percent more electricity from the same amount of water. The design of the new fish-friendly turbines also provides added protection for young salmon and steelhead.
As part of the Public Power Week observance, photos taken during the 11-year modernization project will be displayed at the Rocky Reach Visitor Center.
Coffee and cookies will be served during business hours, Oct. 8-12, at the Visitor Center and at PUD offices in Chelan, Leavenworth and Wenatchee.
The PUD is continuing modernization efforts with work on units in the first powerhouse at Rock Island Dam and planning for major upgrades at the Lake Chelan Hydro Project.
Public power got its start in Washington state in 1930 with passage of Initiative No. 1 by a vote of the people, which provided the authority to form public utility districts. In 1936, Chelan County citizens voted to create Public Utility District No. 1 and named the first commissioners: Charles F. Keiser, W.K. McKenzie and Gust Zacker.
The PUD offered its first electric service to 10 customers in the Antoine Creek area near Chelan in1947 and acquired the distribution system of what was then Puget Sound Power and Light Co. in 1948.
By 1951, with war looming and the demand for aluminum increasing, the PUD leased part of Rock Island Dam from Puget and added six generators to Powerhouse 1 to supply the new Wenatchee Works Alcoa plant. The PUD purchased the Lake Chelan Dam and power plant from Washington Water Power (now Avista) in 1955; purchased Rock Island Dam from Puget in 1956 and the same year started construction on Rocky Reach Dam.
The utility added four more generators to Rocky Reach Dam in 1971 and in 1979 completed the second powerhouse at Rock Island Dam, installing eight horizontal bulb turbines.
Between 1978 and 1995, the utility built 14 parks along the Columbia River and Lake Chelan. The PUD helped start the Regional Water System in 1980 and began construction of a fiber-optic communications backbone in 1999. The innovative juvenile fish bypass at Rocky Reach was completed in 2003.
More information about Chelan County PUD is available by clicking here or on our Web site at www.chelanpud.org.
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Kimberlee Craig
Public Information Officer
509-661-4320, office
509-679-6858, mobile
kimc@chelanpud.org