Title: Overview of Alabama Powers
1Overview of Alabama Powers Tallapoosa River Ope
rations
Martin Dam Relicensing Informational Meeting Ap
ril 1, 2008
Andy Sheppard, P.E. Project Mgr. - Hydro Optimiza
tion
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3What do we want to do today?
- Take a brief tour of the river basin and dams
- Review project purposes
- Special operation issues
- Daily operation considerations
4Alabama Power Company Hydroelectric Projects
5APCo RESERVOIR SYSTEMS
- Three River
Basins
- Tallapoosa
Warrior Coosa
- Drainage 3,300 4,200
10,100
- Reservoirs 4 3
6
- Units 11 4
26
- Capacity (MW) 420 280
950
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11Tallapoosa River Basin Average Monthly Rainfall
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13PROJECT PURPOSES
- HYDRO ELECTRIC POWER
- Electric System Dynamic Benefits
- Energy
- FLOOD CONTROL
- DROUGHT MANAGEMENT
- NAVIGATION REQUIREMENTS
- RECREATION, FISH AND WILDLIFE
- WATER QUALITY
14The Reservoirs operated by APCo are different in
more than just name and location, they're
designed to be operated differently.
APCo operates two types of reservoirs
Run-of-River and Storage
Run-of-River
Storage Tallapoosa Yates, Thurlow
Harris, Martin
Warrior Bankhead, Holt
Smith Coosa Lay, Mitchell, Jordan/B
ouldin Weiss, Henry, Logan Martin
Furthermore, the dams located on the same river
must be operated as a single system
The operations of each dam have an impact on both
upstream and downstream reservoirs
15Typical APCo System Load and Hydro Generation
during Winter
9,000 MW
8,000 MW
7,100 MW
16Typical APCo System Load Hydro Generation
during Summer
11,000 MW
6,300 MW
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21Wadley May 2003
22Tallapoosa River above Horseshoe Bend May 2003
23Flood Control can be defined as reducing river
stages DOWNSTREAM of a dam
The people and property located downstream
benefit from flood control operations
Run-of-river reservoirs have limited flood
control capability they cannot provide this
benefit to the public
24Downstream flood peaks are reduced by discharging
less water than is coming into the reservoir
Flood control plans are based on studies of
significant rainfall events.
Not every flood can be completely controlled
each project has a particular amount of water
that it can store
After all flood storage has been used, the
project becomes run-of-river
25 Drought Forecasting
Drought Timetable
Reservoir Impacts
So, how does APCo make the decisions?
Using a consultation process that involves all
the regulatory agencies responsible for managing
flow and its impacts How bad . .
. . How long . . . . . How much
26License Excerpt for Martin DamFERC Project 349
- Article 12 - The FERC Secretary of the Army
have rights to dictate storage discharge rules
in the interest of navigation, protection of
life, health, and property, and in the interest
of the fullest practicable conservation and
utilization of such waters for power purposes
and for other beneficial public uses, including
recreational purposes - (paraphrased)
27 Tallapoosa River Daily Reservoir Operations
28Automated Rain Stream Gages
- RIVER RAIN STREAM
- TALLAPOOSA 15 6
- WARRIOR 15 6
- COOSA 45
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31 JAN FEB MAR APR
MAY JUN JUL
AUG SEP OCT
NOV DEC
32 33Operational Issues
Daily Weekly Load Forecast
Rain Forecast
Lake Level Forecast
Lake Activity
Inflow Forecast
Maintenance Plans
Units On-line
Up Down Stream Lake Levels Inflows
Required Min. Discharges
Flood Control Discharges
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36Martin Rule Curve Evaluation
- Primary objective of MIG 3 Project Operations
Study Plan is to determine feasibility of winter
pool change
- Preliminary results of modeling complete,
presented today
- Investigated early implementation approach
change and evaluate in the field
- Modeling results indicate downstream flooding
issues
- Solicited direction from FERC must conduct
in-depth analysis of impacts and mitigation
during relicensing process through modeling and
studies prior to any operational changes - Evaluation of permanent changes to winter pool
will be conducted over the next 2 to 3 years and
proposal included in license application in 2011
- Precedent has been set for addressing future
drought conditions