Bear Swamp Hydroelectric Power Station facts for kids

The Bear Swamp Generating Station, also known as the Jack Cockwell Station, is a special kind of power plant. It uses water to make electricity and is built mostly underground! This station is located in Rowe and Florida, right on the Deerfield River in Massachusetts.

The Deerfield River is famous for having many power plants along its path. People even call it "the hardest working river in the county." This shows how important rivers can be for making energy.

How Bear Swamp Makes Power

Bear Swamp is a pumped-storage hydroelectric power station. This means it uses two large pools of water, called reservoirs, at different heights.

The Upper and Lower Reservoirs

The upper reservoir at Bear Swamp is like a huge bathtub high up on a hill. It covers about 88 acres and holds an amazing 1.7 billion gallons of water! This reservoir is about 1,600 feet above sea level. That's 770 feet higher than the lower reservoir.

When there's extra electricity available, usually at night, powerful pumps push water from the lower reservoir up to the higher one. This stores energy, like charging a giant battery.

Water Turbines and Generators

When people need a lot of electricity, especially during the day, the water from the upper reservoir is released. It rushes downhill through large pipes, spinning special machines called water turbines. These turbines are connected to generators that turn the spinning motion into electricity.

The turbines at Bear Swamp are called Francis turbines. They are special because they can work in two ways:

• They can spin to make electricity when water flows downhill.
• They can also act as pumps to push water uphill when needed.

This clever system allows the station to store energy when it's not needed and release it quickly when demand is high.

Building the Station

The New England Power Company built the Bear Swamp station. They wanted to make sure there was enough electricity during busy times. These are called "peak load periods," when many people are using power at once.

Construction on the station began in 1968. It took six years to build, finally opening in 1974.

Power Output and Speed

The Bear Swamp station can produce about 600 megawatts of power. That's enough electricity to power many homes! It can run at full power for up to six hours each day.

One amazing thing about Bear Swamp is how fast it can start. It can go from being off to making full power in less than three minutes. This quick response is very important for keeping the electricity supply stable.

Visiting Bear Swamp

There is an underground visitor's center at the station. Here, you can learn more about the project. It has an automated slide show and other information. More than 60,000 people visit Bear Swamp every year to see how this impressive power plant works.