Georgetown, CO: 1900 1mw Georgetown Energy Museum and 1967 343mw Cabin Creek Hydro

Museum: (Satellite)

Cabin Creek: (Satellite)

Street View, Oct 2012

"Electric generating plants, through their high-voltage lines, provided critical power to the isolated mines in this region. Georgetown, completed in 1900, was unusual in employing both steam and water power. Its owner, United Light and Power Company, was a pioneer in using three-phase, 60-Hertz alternating current and in being interconnected with other utilities." [A plaque via ethw]

ethw
"The mining industry brought about the early development of the alternating current (AC) electrical industry. The major mining areas for gold and silver were located in the mountain areas remotely located from streams that could provide water power for hydroelectric generating plants. The distances required for the transmission of electric power prohibited the use of direct current (DC) electric systems. Also, the major mining districts were in areas where coal was not available. The only fuel available was wood."

Colorado Museums, May 2016

Colorado Museums, May 2016

Jennifer Kate, Jul 2016

As of 2007, the hydro part was still operating and could support 700-1000 homes.  The source of water is the South Clear Creek. [Photo of a plaque] "One megawatt will power 800 modern homes" [daily-jeff]

Cabin Creek Hydro is a pumped-storage facility, and this is the lower reservoir. As the electric power industry transitions from coal to wind and solar, storage becomes more important.

Street View, Sep 2021

cobizmag, Feb 27, 2020
Excel is spending $88m to do an upgrade that includes two new turbines.
"Currently two-pump turbines generate 324 megawatts a day. For reference, 1 megawatt can power approximately 750 Colorado homes for one hour."
[Those sentences should have been: "Currently two-pump turbines generate 324 megawatts. For reference, 1 megawatt can power approximately 750 Colorado homes."]
After the update, which should have been completed in 2021, the plants capacity will be 343mw. They are also increasing the storage capacity by adding 4' to the 210' upper dam.
"In 2007, a fire at the plant killed five workers after a flammable chemical they were using to clean ignited in a tunnel. A criminal trial in the deaths of the workers ended with a $1.5 million plea agreement in 2011. Two years later, the Colorado Court of Appeals dismissed lawsuits against three companies tied to the incident, including plant owner Xcel Energy."
"Of six hydroelectric plants statewide, Cabin Creek is the only unit using pump storage technology." [This surprised me. Given all of the changes in vertical elevation in Colorado, I expected more hydropower. I guess the state doesn't have enough water for a lot of hydopower. Note that a pumped-storage plant doesn't consume water, it recycles it.]

Final report concerning the fire, p23, via csb.gov
[CSB stands for "U. S. Chemeical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board." I did not read the report. but it does have some interesting figures.]

GE supplied the turbines. "As a leader in the field of energy storage applications with pumped storage technology, GE has an installed base of 22 GW for turbines and 38 GW for generators for pumped hydro storage plants. Pumped storage units utilize less expensive energy produced at low demand and then dispatch the stored energy during peak demand." [ge]

"In 1968, the plant was awarded with the Edison Award for novel engineering, the Edison Electric Institute’s highest honor." [Xcel, clicked the Cabin Creek pulldown]

Roger's comment on this post is the motivation for researching the museum power plant. I wanted to note these photos, but they didn't specify the plant. So I'm "parking" the photos in these notes.

Gentleman of Decay posted four photos with the comment: "Power Plant."

Roger Deschner: There's an antique turbine plant like this still operating and adding power to the overall grid in Georgetown, Colorado, USA. It was one of the first 60-cycle AC power plants, so it never became obsolete. AC was necessary to send power to remote gold mines in the mountains around Georgetown. Open to the public in summer.

Richard Smith: Never saw this type of turbine generator operate but there were 7 of these small low pressure units at the Toronto, Ohio plant of Ohio Edison in the early sixties when I worked there. Believe they were put into service in the 10-20’s.

Ron Franko shared

Dan Reynolds: That old crane is pretty cool.

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Dan Swartz: Granite instrument panels!

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