Another turbine is going in at Ice Harbor
By Terry Murry on Thursday, March 3rd, 2022 in Columbia Basin News More Top Stories
BURBANK – The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, in partnership with Voith Hydro, Inc., has completed assembly and begun installation of the second of three advanced-designed hydroelectric turbines at Ice Harbor Lock and Dam. The corps says that the turbines are safer for fish, reduce maintenance costs and increase power generation efficiency by three to four percent.
While the original $73 million contract awarded to Voith Hydro Inc. was for the replacement of three turbines, it also included the goal of improving conditions in the turbine water passageway. Field tests indicate significant improvements to the flow conditions through the fixed blade turbine. Biological testing using specially tagged fish in the fall of 2019 resulted in a 98.25 percent survival rate.
Turbine and generator installations will take about five months with final commissioning scheduled for this summer.
The USACE said Ice Harbor serves a testing ground for developing technical innovations aimed at raising survival rates of endangered and threatened fish in the region. Turbine replacement at Ice Harbor has become a model for future modernizations planned at McNary, John Day, and other federal dams in the Pacific Northwest.
