PG&E has been awarded $34.5 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Grid Deployment Office to support 19 hydroelectric projects across its system.
The grant, part of the DOE's Maintaining and Enhancing Hydroelectricity Incentive program, will fund work offering grid resiliency, improve dam safety, and reduce environmental impacts associated with ongoing operations. The grant will also enable PG&E to cost effectively make critical system improvements for safety and reliability.
"The federal funds will directly benefit PG&E customers by way of performance and capacity enhancements to hydroelectric projects that will continue to provide reliable, sustainable, and cost-effective renewable energy for decades to come,” said Dave Gabbard, Vice President, Power Generation.
PG&E operates and maintains a privately owned hydroelectric system in the U.S., generating roughly 3,867 MW of power through 61 conventional hydro powerhouses, a pumped storage facility, 98 reservoirs, 168 dams, and more than 400 miles of canals, flumes, tunnels, penstocks, siphons and natural waterways. The utility's hydro projects that will benefit from the federal incentive program are located in Mendocino, Nevada, Plumas, Fresno, Tuolumne, Butte, Amador, Calaveras, and Shasta counties.
Major projects are planned for Potter Valley, Lake Fordyce, Lower Bucks Spillway, Lower Blue Lake, Rock Creek and Cresta Cofferdam, Lake Almanor Dam, Courtright Dam, Strawberry Dam, DeSabla, Tiger Creek, Salt Springs, Iron Canyon, Pit 7 Dam, Poe Dam, and Pit 1
