the film forum library tutorial contact DONATE

Crestline Tapped for PUD Work at The Dalles Fish Ladder by Kathy Ursprung The Oregonian, August 22, 2014

Northern Wasco County PUD has tasked Crestline Construction with installing new emergency station service for the utility's hydropower plant on The Dalles Dam fish ladder.

Crestline's bid of about $345,000 came in about $100,000 lower than the only other bid from PCR, Inc. of Beaver Creek.

"We had a preconstruction meeting on Friday [Aug. 15]," said Bob Guidinger, who oversees the PUD's two hydropower plants, "and we're waiting for submittals and final drawings."

Guidinger said he expects construction to start within a month.

The work has to be completed by February of next year.

"Probably all of the exterior portion of the work will be done this fall while the weather is good," he said.

Then a pause is expected for electrical work to hook up to the system.

The station service must be operable by the PUD's next annual February fish ladder outage. Previously, the PUD used the Corps of Engineers' emergency station service for the dam, but that facility is aging and

The new 125-kilowatt standby generator will provide station service when the main generator is offline.

The power is used to operate the lights, pumps and other needs when the main generator is offline. It will be situated so that it can serve both the existing 5 megawatt facility and the future Freedom Project of the same size, should it gain approval.