Smith Creek, Smith Creek, ID

The Smith Creek Hydroelectric Project was constructed in 1989. In 2001 EWEB bought the project from the developer. It is now owned by Tollhouse Energy Company. Located on Smith Creek, a tributary to the Kootenai River, it is approximately five miles from the Canadian board in Northern Idaho.

The project is sometimes referred to as “Smith Falls,” due to natural 60-foot high falls on Smith Creek, located downstream of the power plant tailrace. The falls serves as a natural barrier to White Sturgeon, an endangered species in the Kootenai River.

The project consists of the following:

• 75-foot long, 8-foot high diversion dam, fish ladder and screened intake to the penstock housed inside a steel building
• 5.3-mile, 6-foot diameter steel penstock that carries water from the diversion dam to the power plant
• Power plant that contains two horizontal shaft Pelton turbines, each driving a synchronous generator rated at 18 megawatts and a third horizontal shaft Pelton turbine, driving a synchronous generator rated at 2.1 megawatts
• A substation
• 30-mile, 115-kilovolt transmission line that terminates at the Bonneville Power Administration’s Bonner’s Ferry Substation.