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ATLANTA, GEORGIA (May 26, 2003) — In honor of Memorial Day, GE Power Systems sponsored a spectacular fireworks display at the Grand Coulee Dam in Washington. GE sponsored the fireworks in recognition and support of the Town of Coulee Dam, a community whose very existence is due to the generation of hydropower and the benefits of harnessing the power of water. The economy of the Town of Coulee Dam is based on the operation of the dam and the tourism generated by the dam. Ten’s of thousands of people fill this small town during the summer to watch a nightly laser light show, which is projected on the face of the dam and shows the history and nature of the region. Three times each summer the laser show is followed by a fireworks display that draws spectators who drive more than 200 miles from Spokane and Seattle just to watch the show. The Grand Coulee dam is a significant project for GE Power Systems. The company has been installing and servicing the equipment in this dam since 1951 when GE installed two 65,000 HP or 48,470 kW pumps for irrigation. Each pump can pump a billion gallons of water a day to area farmlands. GE Hydro also has installed three of the largest hydro turbine generators in the world in the third pump house of the dam. Each one produces up to 805 MW of power. In 2002, GE Hydro was awarded a $3.8 million contract for generator stator cores and windings. Additionally, GE also is providing 18 Francis turbine runners to the right and left powerhouses as part of a consortium contract award. Grand Coulee Dam FactsGrand Coulee Dam is largest dam in the United States at 550 feet tall, 5,223 feet long and with a power output of 6,809 MW. The dam is twice the height of Niagara Falls. The spillway is 1,650 feet wide and has a total area of 13 acres. The Hoover dam would fit inside the spillway with 100 feet to spare on either side. There are 11 drum gates. Each gate is 130 feet wide and 30 feet tall and are used for flood control of the Columbia River. There are 40 outlet pipes with a diameter of 8.5 feet each that are used for flood control by moving water from the upstream side to the downstream side of the dam. Discharge of each pipe can be as great as 5,000 cubic feet per second. There are six 40-foot diameter penstocks for the third powerhouse. These each pump 250,000 gallons/sec of water. Each penstock can move roughly the equivalent of two Colorado Rivers as measured at the site of the Hoover Dam per second. The reservoir created behind the Grand Coulee Dam, known as Lake Roosevelt, is 153 miles long, goes to the Canadian border, and has a volume of 9.5 million ac/ft. The Grand Coulee Dam irrigates ~700,000 acres by pumping water uphill 300 feet behind the dam into the upper Grand Coulee. Only 2 to 3 percent of the flow of the river is being used to irrigate the farmland. About GE EnergyGE Energy (www.gepower.com) is one of the world’s leading suppliers of power generation technology, energy services and management systems with 2002 revenues of nearly $23 billion. Based in Atlanta, GA, GE Power Systems provides equipment, service and management solutions across the power generation, oil and gas, distributed power and energy rental industries. For more information, contact:Dennis MurphyGE Energy +1 678 844 6948 dennis.murphy@ps.ge.com Ken Darling or Howard Masto Masto Public Relations +1 518 786 6488 kenneth.darling@ps.ge.com howard.masto@ps.ge.com |
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