Proposed PUD project holds meetings

By Lou Marzeles
Goldendale Sentinel

The Klickitat PUD (KPUD) thinks water is just too lazy, just lying there. At best, it seems, you can make it run through a dam and generate electricity. But why not really make water go to work?

If KPUD can bring an ambitious new project to completion, water will work on a hugely prodigious scale, the likes of which have rarely been seen anywhere. And indications are that KPUD just could pull it off.

It has the colorless title John Day Pool Pumped Storage Hydroelectric Project. The name seems to match the scale of what it wants to do.

Essentially the project will pump water uphill into gigantic reservoirs when power is plentiful. Then, when power is somewhat depleted, the water can be released back downhill through turbines to generate more electricity. We’re talking a lot of water, capable of generating 1,200 megawatts of power. Read more