Beaver Combustion Plant
1974 - Present
Beaver Combustion Plant
The Beaver Combustion Plant takes its name from the site on which it was built, the Beaver Army Ammunition Depot, a major army shipping point for the Pacific Theater of Operations.
In 1973 stream flows and reservoir levels hit record lows. The threat of a power shortage was enough to make PGE bring the Station L steam plant out of a nine-year retirement for 60 days of emergency service. To ensure there would be more emergency generation on hand in the future, work began on the Beaver Combustion Turbine Plant at Port Westward, 60 miles northwest of Portland on the Columbia River.
After investigating several sites, PGE selected the former Beaver Army Ammunition Depot on the Columbia River near Clatskanie. The Port of St. Helens, who owned the 800-acre site, leased it to PGE for a term of about 93 years. The Beaver Plant itself would take about 125 acres and include a large dock on a deep-water channel suitable for oil delivery by tanker ships, on-site rail facilities and a nearby state highway. These were important because the plant would burn fuel oil brought in by barge along the river and freight cars by the railroad spurs.
On Aug. 1, 1974, ahead of schedule, Beaver began commercial operation. In May 1975, PGE added a combined steam-generating turbine to utilize the waste heat exhausted by the gas turbines. The combined cycle generating facility was operational by Oct. 31, 1977, right on schedule. When not in operation, the gas turbines are usually maintained in a standby mode, capable of being brought online in 20 minutes.
510 MW
Net Capacity
Aug 1974 - present
Commercial operation
Columbia River, eight miles north of Clatskanie
Location
Clearing the site began in May of 1973, including the removal of 20 large concrete and earth ammunition storage bunkers, and construction began in September. The six industrial-type combustion gas turbine generating units use a wide variety of oil fuels and were designed for combined-cycle operation, using the high-temperature exhaust gases in heat recovery boilers to produce steam for a turbine generator. The turbine generators were installed in a single 479-foot building, the turbine on each unit directly connected to an air-cooled generator, each unit 140-feet long, 56-feet wide and over 42-feet high.
Originally called Station B, but after extensive modernization it was renamed the T.W. Sullivan Plant on June 29, 1953, in honor of Thomas William Sullivan (Portrait below), PGE’s Chief Engineer. George E. Sullivan, T.W.’s second-oldest child and then senior vice-president of PGE, was master of ceremonies at the dedication event. T.W. Sullivan designed the Willamette Falls Locks, Station A and Station B and was later involved with the construction of Faraday, River Mill and Bull Run facilities. He was on the PGE payroll until his death in 1940.
In 2008, PGE completed a flow control structure at the most upstream point of Willamette Falls and a bypass chute (basically a water slide). Flows entering the plant are managed so fish within the water column are guided past the turbine intakes and into the chute that directs them back into the Willamette River just downstream of the falls. Three inflatable rubber “gates” can be lowered to help fish avoid the rocks below by guiding them to the deep water at the base of the falls for safer passage. Eleven of the plant’s 13 turbines have also been replaced with highly efficient, fish-friendly turbines.
In 1995, Hydro Review Magazine made the T.W. Sullivan Plant the first-ever inductee into its “Hydro Hall of Fame.”
The Low Impact Hydropower Institute Board certified the Willamette Falls Project in 2008 as low impact, renewing its certification in 2012. This designation is based on PGE’s extensive fish protection efforts, including installation of a second fish bypass system at the Sullivan plant and construction of the flow control structure at the apex of Willamette Falls.
18 MW
Net capacity*
December 1895 - present
Commercial operation
Willamette River, West Linn
Location
T.W. Sullivan Powerhouse
Station B
1895-Present
After investigating several sites, PGE selected the former Beaver Army Ammunition Depot on the Columbia River near Clatskanie. The Port of St. Helens, who owned the 800-acre site, leased it to PGE for a term of about 93 years. The Beaver Plant itself would take about 125 acres and include a large dock on a deep-water channel suitable for oil delivery by tanker ships, on-site rail facilities and a nearby state highway. These were important because the plant would burn fuel oil brought in by barge along the river and freight cars by the railroad spurs.
History of PGE
Electrifying Oregon
Powering Progress
A Thoughtful Transition
History of PGE
Electrifying Oregon
Powering Progress
A Thoughtful Transition
Forever Evolving
Powering the Future
A Thoughtful Transition
Clackamas Project Expansion
Building Reliable Power Plants
Powering Progress
Willamette Falls
Clackamas River Construction
Electrifying Oregon
History of PGE
History of PGE
Electrifying Oregon
Powering Progress
A Thoughtful Transition