Installation of the most advanced turbine installed in a hydroelectric powerhouse in the United States, was completed in November 2004 at Grant County PUD's Wanapum Dam on the Columbia River.

Unit eight was the first of 10 new turbines that will be installed at Wanapum Dam over the next nine years. The new turbine is the result of several years of research and testing designed to learn how dam operators can achieve higher survival rates for juvenile fish passing through turbines. Preparations for the second turbine, replacing unit 4 at Wanapum Dam, are underway with a goal for final installation in September, 2006.

In the spring of 2005, Grant PUD tested fish passage survival after installation of the first new turbine. Tests on the new turbine and an adjacent existing model revealed an overall weighted survival estimate of 97.82 percent for smolts passing through the new turbine compared to survival rate of 97.71 percent in the existing turbine. 

Based on the improvement of an already high survival rate of smolts passing through the turbines, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) approved Grant PUD’s request to continue installing the new turbine designs in remaining generating units at Wanapum Dam.

The new turbine has an added advantage of increasing power output of the turbine by 14 percent and water use efficiency by an average of 3 percent.  When all 10 turbines are replaced, power production will increase by 14 to 20 percent while continuing to provide safe downstream passage of juvenile salmon.

Watch the Removal of Unit Four at Wanapum Dam

Watch the video of the new Advanced Turbine being assembled at Wanapum Dam