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Oregon Digital
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9 Technology and the Environment
Building and operating a power
system is an evolving process.
But before ending this history and attempting to forecast the future of BPA, some special attention must be given to the two areas of BPA...
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reliably in spite of the challenge of many natural and man-made crises.
War, wind, fire, rain, snow, and vandalism have all tested the integrity of the grid. During World War II, a Japanese balloon caused an outage of the Midway-North Bonneville...
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As a matter of fact, in this computer age, technical advancements at BPA have been and are continuing to be paced by the development of computer techniques. Designing a complex transmission system depends on determining the exact amounts of power...
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matrix method not only opened the way for scores of other power system computer applications (a group of programs for designing transmission towers, for example) but contributed to expediting analysis in many other fields, such as aerospace, where...
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development of new devices to sustain system stability when overloads occur. One particularly dramatic device for stabilizing the system is the BPA braking resistor located at Chief Joseph Substation. This resistor is made up of three 90-foot-high...
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and the future promises a whole new range of technical breakthroughs at BPA.
For the future, equipment is already being fabricated for an ultra-high-voltage (UHV), 1,100-kilovolt prototype transmission line to be installed near Lyons, Oregon....
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Twentieth Century Man does not find it difficult to wax lyrical about the accomplishments and promises of technology. On the other hand, he can have the uneasy thought that the systems of objects and mechanisms built by technology may somehow...
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architects, soil scientists, and foresters.
For the future, BPA is developing a computer technique to organize and store data on resource and land use and to analyze and relate these factors to transmission line locations' and processes. The...
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Epilogue
The giant Federal Columbia
River Power System stands as
a testimonial to the vision and talents of its planners and builders. In little more than one generation, Man has harnessed the tremendous water power of the Columbia Basin for...
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increased to 20 percent. But even these increases are relatively small compared to the escalation in the cost of building new generation. When the Hydro-Thermal Power Program was conceived in the late 1960's, the estimated cost of an optimum-sized...
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The BPA story is the story of transmission—design, construction, control and maintenance. It began at Bonneville Dam in 1939 when we completed our first transmission line to Vancouver, Washington. The 230-kV line, 37 miles in length, formed the...
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1937 Bonneville-Grand Coulee line near Bonneville Dam.
Early linemen had to be both rugged and resourceful. Their work required them to be part-engineer, part-lumberjack, part-teamster, and part-aerialist.
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Image captions: Stringing conductor near Bonneville Dam.
[for page 109]: Construction of protective barriers in the Columbia River (Bonneville-Vancouver line). Image details: 5'-6;" OR 12" LOWER THAN ANY LINE GUYS USED. DETAIL OF NOTE.... |
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Image caption: Winch operation by telephone during river crossing tower construction on the Vancouver-Eugene line.
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Tower by tower, the line advanced across river and field toward Vancouver.
Image captions: Dead ending the conductor on river corssing tower (Bonneville-Vancouver line). Stringing conductor on the Vancouver-Eugene line. Preparing conductor for... |
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Image captions: Linemen hold a sock used to pull the conductor across the Columbia River (Vancouver-Eugene line). Gin pole in use on the Vancouver-Kelso line.
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Image caption: Crossing guard poles between poles at Harrisburg Oregon (Vancouver-Eugene line).
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Working a hundred feet in the air is often windy and always hazardous. Many of the techniques for stringing conductor were borrowed from the Navy. Where there is no established technique, a lineman turns inventor.
Image caption: Removing the... |
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Prior to the advent of the helicopter, the "gin pole" technique was the principal method of tower erection. A long pole with a pulley at one end was lashed to the existing frame. Then, by horsepower or manpower, the next section of the tower was...
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Image captions: Sagging conductor on the
Bonneville-Grand Coulee line north of Grand Coulee Dam. Installing an assembled 11-kV disconnect at Alcoa Substation, 1941.
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Image captions: The BPA grid in 1939. A pole planting crew works near Bonneville Dam. Attaching conductor fittings on the Bonneville-Grand Coulee line.
Image details: WASHINGTON CHEHALIS KELSO GRAND COULEE ABERDEEN VANCOUVER ST. JOHNS... |
