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SYSTEM POWER RESOURCES

No new generators were added to the system during the fiscal year ending June 1945; however, the generating capacity was sufficient so that by careful scheduling of outages, each of the 18 main units at the Bonneville and Grand Coulee plants could be shut down for annual overhaul and maintenance.

Although the total load on the Bonneville-Grand Coulee system was slightly less than that of the previous year due to cutbacks in war production, increased deliveries to the utilities of the Northwest power pool largely offset the decrease in industrial load.

With stream flows in the Northwest below normal during the summer and fall of 1944, the Administration delivered large blocks of power to other utilities in the region to enable them to meet their load requirements without burning critical fuel oil for power production. By the last week in December, all storage reservoirs west of the Cascade Mountains had been pulled down to their rule curves, or below, and schedules for power from the Administration and other pool utilities were suddenly increased to an all time high. As a result of these high deliveries to the pool, the Bonneville-Coulee system established a record 60-minute peak generation of 1,427,000 kilowatts on January 4, 1945. During the hour of this peak, 623,000 kilowatts were delivered to pool members for their own use. Moderate weather and heavy rains beginning the second week in January and continuing intermittently throughout the winter and spring, relieved the Northwest water shortage and consequently decreased Bonneville Power Administration deliveries to other pool members.

The flow of the Columbia River was below average practically all year, and was below the minimum on record for part of the time. Nevertheless, the power resources of the Bonneville Power Administration were adequate to meet all demands for energy.

During 1945, as in 1944, the Bonneville and Grand Coulee power plants supplied approximately 50 percent of all electric energy consumed in the five Northwest States of Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, and Utah. The task of scheduling loads and regulating the frequency of the entire power pool was carried by the Administration throughout the year, with the actual regulation being done at either the Bonneville or Grand Coulee power plants, depending mainly on water conditions.

The following tabulation of energy receipts and deliveries shows the Administration's major contribution to the Northwest power pool during the past fiscal year. Deliveries to other utilities for their own use increased from 1,810,602,507 kilowatt-hours in fiscal year 1944, to 2,401,859,000 kilowatt-hours or 32.65 percent.

TABLE 3.-Bonneville-Grand Coulee generation (kilowatt-hours)

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Power pool operations-scheduled exchange (kilowatt-hours)

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The other members of the Northwest power pool-power systems in Utah, Montana, and Idaho—are not directly interconnected with the Bonneville-Grand Coulee system.

In order to meet the power requirements of other Northwest utilities, several new points of interconnection were established during the year. The first, a temporary tie with the Portland General Electric Co., made at Bonneville's St. Johns substation on July 9, 1944, to relieve overload conditions, was discontinued on November 15 when the company's two underwater cables across the Willamette River were ripped out by a ship's anchor. Failure of these cables resulted in serious curtailment of power to a part of the company's system, but fortunately it was possible to bring into service on the same day a new interconnection with the company, tapping the Administration's St. Johns-Oregon City lines near the Linnton district of Portland.

To further increase deliveries of the Administration's power into the Portland area, one Bonneville generator was isolated to feed power directly into the Northwestern Electric Co.'s system through a temporary interconnection with the Bonneville-Alcoa No. 6 line. This tie was still in service at the end of the fiscal year, pending installation of a permanent interconnection at the Troutdale substation.

A cable failure on the Puget Sound Power & Light Co.'s system between Richmond Beach and President Point occurred on October 25, 1944, and in order to supplement the reduced capacity of the remaining cables and to assure an adequate supply of power on the Olympic peninsula, it was necessary to close the Bonneville Power Administration-Tacoma-Puget Sound Power & Light Co. loop at Bremerton. Except for normal operating outages, this loop has been closed continually since that date.

During the year, stream flow gages were installed on the Columbia River at Trinidad, Umatilla, and Celilo; and on the Snake River at Clarkston and Five Mile Rapids. These gages consist of impulse transmitters and telephone connections to the dispatcher's office, enabling the load dispatchers to obtain immediate water flow data from the various points and to make maximum use of the available water.

CONSTRUCTION PROGRESS

Although shortage of materials, lack of adequate manpower, changes in design and other factors brought about by war conditions handicapped construction progress during the year, the major projects under construction were held close to original schedules.

The most important construction project of the year-the Covington-Grand Coulee Line No. 2-was completed on October 6, 1944, approximately 1 month ahead of schedule. Energization of this line eliminated a serious transmission bottleneck in the Seattle area and reduced the load on the Grand Coulee-Covington Line No. 1 to normal or below. Prior to completion of the second line, Line No. 1 had been carrying up to 251,000 kilowatts, an overload of 41,000 kilowatts, to meet power requirements in the Puget Sound area.

The major construction projects started during the fiscal year were the Columbia substation, a new 230,000-volt substation near Rock Island on the Columbia River, and a 51-mile 230,000-volt steel tower line from Midway substation to the new Columbia substation. Completion of the Midway-Columbia project will improve stability of the Bonneville-Grand Coulee System and increase the amount of energy that can be transmitted to the Puget Sound and Portland

areas.

A total of 149.8 circuit miles of transmission lines of all types was built during the past fiscal year. Segregated by voltage classifications, this construction included 146.6 circuit miles of 230-kilovolt line, 11.9 circuit miles of 115-kilovolt line. and 1.3 circuit miles of low-voltage line.

Six permanent transformer banks, one single-phase transformer and four cooling fan installations, totaling 181,600 kilovolt-amperes; and two spare transformers totaling 25,000 kilovolt-amperes were installed at various substations. However, only 132,100 kilovoltamperes was energized and placed in service. The remaining unenergized transformers, totaling 49,500 kilovolt-amperes are available for service to the customers when required. Three permanent transformer banks and one single-phase transformer totaling 38,712 kilovolt-amperes were removed from service, leaving a net increase of 142,888 kilovolt-amperes of transformer capacity installed and ready for service during the 1945 fiscal year.

The following tabulation shows, by comparison with fiscal year 1944, system additions placed in service during fiscal year 1945:

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1 Includes 49,500 kilovolt-amperes ready for service but not energized.

12, 349, 967

59, 110 252, 500

43

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THE YEAR'S HIGHLIGHTS

LABOR-MANAGEMENT AGREEMENT

Of particular significance in the year's operations was the signing on May 2, 1945, of a labor-management agreement providing for a method of collective bargaining with hourly employees of the Bonneville Power Administration in the trades and crafts unions. This basic agreement was made applicable to all Bonneville hourly employees in the trades and crafts who are not subject to the Classification Act of 1923.

By the terms of the agreement, conference and consultative machinery and procedures, through the processes of collective bargaining, were set up (1) to provide for joint determination of fair and reasonable rates of pay, hours and working conditions; (2) to insure the making of appointments and promotions on a merit basis; (3) to promote stability of employment and to establish satisfactory tenure; (4) to provide for improvement and betterment programs designed to aid the employees in achieving their acknowledged and recognized objectives; (5) to promote the highest degree of efficiency and responsibility in the performance of the work and the accomplishment of the public purposes of the Bonneville Power Administration; (6) to adjust promptly all disputes, whether related to matters covered by the agreement or otherwise; (7) to promote systematic labor-management cooperation

between the Administration and its employees; and (8) to aid the reestablishment in civilian life of returning veterans.

COLUMBIA BASIN COST ALLOCATION REPORT

An earlier event of signal importance to smooth peacetime conversion in the Northwest was the completion and approval by the Secretary of the Interior on January 31, 1945, of the Columbia Basin Project Cost Allocation Report which was prepared jointly by the Bonneville Power Administration and the Bureau of Reclamation. The report was transmitted to Congress on May 8, 1945, and published as House Document No. 172.

According to the report, total estimated cost for the completed Grand Coulee project is $487,030,228. This includes the total ultimate development of power generating capacity of 1,800,000 kilowatts of power and the completion of irrigation canals and facilities for the irrigation of 1,029,000 acres of arid land in central Washington. The project will provide a livelihood for about a quarter of a million additional people on farms or in industry and service in the project area and for many others in industry and service elsewhere in the Pacific Northwest.

Repayments from power revenues will include $348,065,228, or 70 percent of the total project cost, from commercial power sales by the Bonneville Power Administration and $50,500,000 for pumping power supplied by the Bureau of Reclamation to irrigate the project.

Of the remaining investment, farmers who irrigate the 1,029,000 acres of new agricultural land in the project will repay $87,465,000, or an average capital cost of $85 per acre for their water.

Under the terms of the report, the Federal Government will be repaid all its reimbursable investment in the Columbia Basin project within 75 years, and during that period the project will be maintained out of power revenues so that it will be in excellent operating condition after the capital cost is repaid.

The report states that existing rates of the Bonneville Power Administration are expected to produce revenues sufficient to return the power investment with interest, and to repay all irrigation and other reimbursable costs of the projects which cannot be repaid otherwise, as well as meeting all estimated obligations in connection with the Bonneville-Grand Coulee transmission system.

Commercial power revenues also will be used to establish a special treasury fund amounting to $70,786,815 over the repayment period. This money will be available for possible reduction in water and power rates at Grand Coulee, or for assistance to other irrigation and power projects in the Columbia River Basin.

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