Friday, April 26, 2019 I took ten Environmental Science students to Dumas, Arkansas to tour the Arkansas Electric Cooperative Corporation Project at Dam Number 2. Electricity here in Arkansas is provided by electrical cooperatives. The plant manager, the plant engineer, and the public relations manager for the cooperative were there to meet us. Neither I nor my students had toured a hydroelectric plant, and especially not a through-river plant. The plant was build in the 90's and produced its first electricity on June 15, 1999 at 11:18 a.m. The plant has three 7 meter diameter turbines. It has an installed capacity of 102,600 kW, but a dependable capacity of 35,000 kW. Annually on average it produces 351 million kWh of energy. The total project cost $192,000,000.
This through river dam is built across a tributary of the Arkansas River. The Corps of Engineers tells them when they can generate power, versus when they cannot. The day we visited, they were generating power, so we were actually able to feel water flowing through the turbines.
We started the tour on the top of the dam looking down at the headwaters. Our guides explained the dam was like a giant filter for the river. Everything that gets put in the Arkansas river ends up in front of the dam. They have a big piece of machinery with a claw they called the pooper scooper they use a few times a week to dig out the trash in front of the dam. Then we went down to the control room where they outfitted us with our Personal Protective Equipment and explained a bit more about how the dam works. The computers in this room control how the dam operates. Most often, however, the dam is operated remotely from another location.
Next we went down many flights of stairs to get to the basement under the turbines. The students found it very cool that we were actually under the Arkansas River and completely dry. We had to wear ear plugs here so we struggled to communicate with our guides but they had explained most everything before we got down there. We were able to feel the water moving through the turbines and also get a glimpse of how big they are from the inside.
We took a service elevator back to the top of the dam. We were now seeing the south side of the dam. There were a lot of fishermen on this side fishing. Our guides brought a pair of binoculars because you often see alligators out there eating "sushi." We did see a few dead fish and plenty of birds, but no alligators. Here we took a group shot of the class, our guides, and myself. The only one not pictured is the public relations manager for the cooperative who was taking the photos.