Innovative Fish Tower Will Restore Salmon Fish Passages And Provide Green Energy
As a result of a new, innovative fish passage project in Central Oregon designed by CH2M HILL and partners, salmon and steelhead could soon be swimming their way down the Metolius, Crooked and upper Deschutes River for the first time in more than 40 years.
Portland General Electric (PGE) and the Confederated Tribes of the Warm Springs Reservation of Oregon, co-owners of the Pelton Round Butte Hydroelectric Project at on the Deschutes River, are one year into construction on a groundbreaking system which will restore fish passages around the Round Butte and Pelton dams for the first time in 40 years, while improving water quality and continuing to provide a source of green energy.
Engineered by CH2M HILL and partnering firms, EES Consulting and ENSR/AECOM Technology Corporation, the 273-foot-tall, 5.5 million pound underwater tower will mimic natural conditions by modifying water temperatures and currents to attract migrating fish to the underwater tower and fish collection station. These fish will be sorted, and young salmon and steelhead will be trucked downstream below the dams to continue their journey to the Columbia River and the Pacific Ocean. When they return as adults, the fish reaching the lowest dam will be sorted and the salmon and steelhead will be trucked above Round Butte Dam to reach the upstream rivers to spawn.
"The project team is gratified to have the bottom structure securely anchored to the bottom of the reservoir at the intake structure," said Wally Bennett, CH2M HILL project manager. "We can now turn our full attention to the floating elements of the selective withdrawal tower being erected in the forebay."
"This is an innovative solution to restoring fish passage in the Deschutes River Basin," said Stephen Quennoz, PGE's vice president of power supply and generation. "With this new facility, we will be able to continue providing an important source of clean, renewable power for the region while being good stewards of the environment."
Construction on the project, which is located above Round Butte Dam in Lake Billy Chinook, is underway with crews on target to have the facility operational in spring 2009, at a cost of about $108M
In October, the lower section of the tower was sunk into place, and is currently being anchored by 11 pilings drilled into 32 feet of bedrock. Over the coming month the top structure, access bridge, and flow conduit will be erected. The flow conduit, a 136 foot length of steel pipe 40-foot in diameter, will be installed to connect the top and bottom intakes to mix warmer surface water with cooler bottom water.
The Pelton Round Butte Project is the largest hydroelectric powered project completely within Oregon's boundaries and the only in the nation jointly operated by a utility, Portland General Electric, and a Native American tribe, the Confederated Tribes of the Warm Spring Reservation of Oregon. This design will help PGE meet its renewable energy goals.
Visit the project Web site at www.deschutespassage.com for project updates, maps, podcasts, blogs, photos, and technical information on this transcendent project.
SOURCE: CH2M HILL