Beaver Lake Dam Powers Up Region

Hydroelectricity from Beaver Lake Dam powers about 1,400 households in east Rogers, Eureka Springs and Neosho, Mo.
Access to the power plant isn’t what it used to be since the Oklahoma City bombing and 9/11 attacks curbed all public tours about five years ago. In fact, the Northwest Arkansas Business Journal was recently granted the first media tour in more than a year.
After being buzzed in through an electric gate that’s controlled — along with most everything else at the plant — by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers at Table Rock Dam in Branson, Mo., vehicles weave between giant, square concrete boulders that are lined two-by-two along the entrance road.
Shadowed by a 228-foot concrete wall is the power plant that’s monitored around the clock by multiple video cameras. Behind the wall are billions of gallons of water, serving as the fuel for hydroelectric generation.
Will Remar’s office is just inside the power plant where he works with two others. He’s been senior power plant mechanic since 1988.
“There’s a lot of muscle in here,” said Remar while looking over one of two generators capable of producing a combined 112,400 kilowatts of electricity. “But the main purpose of the dams is for flood control.”
What cost $46.2 million to build in 1960 would have cost about $292.7 million in 2005, according to consumer price index statistics. Considering what the dam has done since it’s completion in 1966, it was a bargain.
Built across the White River, it created 449 miles of shoreline that’s selling for millions per listing, both homes and land by itself. Seven floodgates protect the property.
But perhaps the most awesome part of the dam, which is lined with gopher-like hallways, takes place at the power plant where generators hum most afternoons.
Water from Beaver Lake is filtered through an intake near the base of the dam. It then flows through a penstock and into 24 gates (each weighs a ton) surrounding a turbine that spins like a 24-blade propeller. The turbine turns a 37-inch high carbon steel shaft at about 106 RPMs into the generator, producing electricity. Under a full load, about 1.6 million gallons of water is discharged per minute.
How often generation takes place is based strictly on demand and is marketed to customers by Southwestern Power Administration, an agency of the U.S. Department of Energy.
“On a hot summer day, when everybody has their air conditioners on, you’re going to have higher demand,” Remar said. “On a cool day, there’s going to be less demand.”
Electricity at 13,800 volts is increased to 161,000 volts at step-up transformers outside the plant, then passed through long distance power lines before hitting several step-down transformers along the way and entering homes through sockets at 110 watts to 220 watts.
The dam is one of the seven power plants in the Little Rock District, which generates enough electricity each year to power 300,000 households. The clean, renewable hydropower is important to the electric supply system. The district’s plants meant two million barrels of oil were not used last year, and 1.5 million tons of greenhouse gas emissions were prevented.