BEVERLY - Grant PUD crews placed the last of 10 new turbines into its place at Wanapum Dam on the Columbia River recently.

According to publicist Thomas Stredwick, the new turbines have a life of more than 40 years, increase fish passage survival and allow for greater amounts of clean, hydroelectric generation to customers.

The turbine replacement program is the largest project undertaken at Grant PUD since construction of the dams in the 1950s and 1960s. Components of the turbines came from manufacturers in Virginia, Washington, Pennsylvania, Czech Republic, Romania, Brazil, and Slovenia.

"Improvements like these allow Grant County residents to continue enjoying the benefits of clean energy for future generations," Stredwick said.

The replaced turbines had been rehabilitated over the years but began to show excessive signs of deterioration. They were more than 50 years old in some instances, and blades were cracking.

That caused frequent maintenance issues and costly service outages of the units, Stredwick said.

The project began with design work in 1993 and continued with testing into 2002. The first replacement unit was installed in 2003. The contract value of the turbine replacement project was $120 million dollars.

The project has value for a number of reasons. The new units have a three percent water use efficiency, and the plant has the potential ability to generate 14 percent more clean energy.

Grant PUD is also in the process of replacing all generators in a nine-month schedule per unit.

With the new turbines, Wanapum Dam has a rated capacity of 1,092 MW of power production. Priest Rapids Dam has a rated capacity of 956 MW.