Electron Hydroelectric Project facts for kids
The Electron Hydroelectric Project is a special power plant that uses the power of water to make electricity. It was first called the Puyallup Project. This plant is run by a company called Electron Hydro LLC. It is located on the Puyallup River in Pierce County, Washington. This project makes about 26.2 megawatts of electricity. Around 20 people work there full-time to keep it running.
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Where is the Electron Project?
The project is found along the Puyallup River. It is close to a place called Kapowsin in Pierce County. This spot is about 25 miles southeast of Tacoma. It is also about 42 miles southeast of Seattle. The plant sits in the western hills near Mount Rainier.
How Does the Project Make Power?
The Electron Project was finished in 1904. It works by taking water from the Puyallup River. This happens behind a special wall called the Electron Diversion Dam. The water then travels through a long wooden channel called a flume. This flume is about 10 miles long. It runs along the hills next to the winding river valley. The river itself flows down a steep canyon.
The wooden flume is quite large, about 8 feet by 8 feet inside. It can carry up to 400 cubic feet of water every second. This water then goes to the power plant's turbines. Building the original project took about 14 months. The flume slopes gently, dropping seven feet for every mile it travels.
A small railway line was built on top of the flume. This railway helps workers and equipment move along the flume. It is sometimes called "the crookedest railway in the world." However, other railways also claim this title.
The flume and its railway were rebuilt in the 1940s. They were rebuilt again in 1985. The original wood frames were replaced with over 12,000 steel frames. These frames are about 4 feet apart. The flume is held up by over 6,000 supports. It is lined with a lot of fir wood, about 5.5 million board feet. Electron Hydro, LLC is now replacing the wood liner with Alaska yellow cedar. They might also coat it with a material called Polyurea. This flume is likely the biggest one used for hydroelectric projects in the United States.
Helping Fish Pass Safely
The project has special ways to help fish. Adult salmon and rainbow trout need to swim upstream to lay eggs. They can do this using a concrete fish ladder. This ladder is 300 feet long. It is built next to the wooden dam, across from where the flume takes in water.
Young fish, called juveniles, sometimes swim into the wooden flume by mistake. If this happens, they are caught safely. Then, they are put back into the Puyallup River. This is done using a "trap-and-haul" system. This system is located near the start of the storage reservoir.
Environmental Care
In July 2020, something unexpected happened at the dam. Some rubber pieces from a construction project got into the Puyallup River. This material was part of a temporary barrier. The company quickly worked to clean up the spill.
Later, the company had to pay to help fix the river. This was because the rubber pieces, which came from artificial turf, were harmful to fish. Chunks of this material were found many miles downriver. The company also had to remove a rock wall they had built in 2020. A court decided that this wall was harming important fish like steelhead trout, Chinook salmon, and bull trout. These fish are protected by the Endangered Species Act. The company was ordered to remove the middle part of the rock dam during the summer.
