A backstage look at how the crew at SMUD keeps Sacramento lit up.
Hydrography field technician Dan Lund is en route to the Rubicon Reservoir in Eldorado National Forest’s Desolation Wilderness for some routine valve maintenance at the dam there. Attentively controlling the flow helps SMUD maximize hydropower generation. The location is too far into the wilderness to access by ground transport.
Regular and ongoing assessments of water flows are essential to maintaining the performance of SMUD’s hydroelectric system. Here, at Buck Island Dam and Reservoir, SMUD hydrographers Dan Lund and Grant Winslow make flow verification measurements.
SMUD hydrographer Grant Winslow assesses the flow into a power intake tunnel at Buck Island Reservoir.
SMUD hydrographer Grant Winslow taking a routine stream flow measurement downstream of Buck Island dam to verify that SMUD is meeting the minimum required instream flow into the Little Rubicon river.
SMUD workers preparing to fly out of the Buck Island Reservoir after completing repairs on valve at the dam site.
“Flights into the wilderness are strictly controlled by the U.S. Forest Service,” says SMUD spokesperson Christopher Capra, “and are only made when primitive methods of travel are not an option.”
Karen Case, a mechanical engineer with SMUD, inspects the inner workings of an intake structure that funnels water to a generation turbine at Jaybird Firehouse in the Upper American River watershed.
Jaybird is just one of eight powerhouses in the “Stairway of Power,” SMUD’s hydroelectric system that includes 11 dams and 11 turbines. The system can deliver about a quarter of the power its customers need on hot summer afternoons, according to SMUD spokesperson Christopher Capra. Here, a diversion tunnel near Union Valley Powerhouse gets an up-close inspection from craft workers.
SMUD worker Dan Lund performing a survey of the Union Valley penstock tunnel, which carries water to the Union Valley Power House.
SMUD worker Bill Collins surveying part of a turbine housing several stories below, inside Union Valley powerhouse.
The intake to the Buck-Loon diversion tunnel. Water is diverted from Buck Island reservoir to Loon Lake via this tunnel.
SMUD workers preparing to drill a core sample from the Union Valley spillway to evaluate bonding of a capping repair.
A concrete core is removed from a spillway by SMUD craft worker Jacob Walker to evaluate bonding of a capping repair.
Photos: Ken James Captions: Allison Joy
Keeping the Lights On
Behind the scenes with the Sacramento Municipal Utility District
