L.A. Aqueduct Power
The eight hydroelectric power plants located along the Aqueduct route provide Los Angeles with clean, low cost electricity in addition to providing power for LADWP facilities along the system. These plants generate more electricity than they consume. It is estimated that each year, the Owens Valley hydro powerplants can generate approximately 122 megawatts of energy when running at maximum capacity, which is enough to serve about 179,000 homes.
The hydropower generated from the electric power plant plus four substations provides electricity to more than 6,000 LADWP electric customers in the Owens Valley which includes both residential households and commercial businesses.
• In fiscal year 2021-22, we supplied more than 21,400 gigawatt hours to more than 1.6M electric customers including almost 6,000 customers in the Owens Valley.
• Power Resources (2021) include: Large hydro 6%, Geothermal 10%, Wind 11%, Solar 14%, Coal 19%, Natural Gas 26%, Renewables 35%, Nuclear 14%
• Responsible for inspection, maintenance, and operation of the following: energy generation, energy storage, transmission, and distribution.
L.A. AQUEDUCT POWER FACILITIES
Sylmar Converter Station – Pacific Intertie
Power Plants 1 & 2
Barren Ridge Switching Station
Haiwee Hydroelectric Power Station
Haiwee Reservoir
Cottonwood/Division Creek
Big Pine Power Plant
Pleasant Valley Reservoir
Owens River Gorge and Hydroelectric Plants
RENEWABLE ENERGY
Large scale solar – Mojave Desert
Pine Tree Wind Farm and Pine Tree Solar – Tehachapi Mountains
The construction of the Los Angeles Aqueduct brought a reliable source of water to the arid city of Los Angeles. However, the aqueduct did much more, it also brought power to Los Angeles.
During the building of the aqueduct, the LADWP brought online Los Angeles’s first power plant—located at Cottonwood and Division Creeks and built in 1908—to supply hydroelectric power for the aqueduct’s construction.
The Bureau of Los Angeles Aqueduct Power (forerunner to the LADWP) was established in 1909, with Ezra F. Scattergood named as chief electrical engineering. As William Mulholland's counterpart for the Power System, Scattergood became the driving spirit in the development of the municipal electric system.
Learn more from our archives, Intake Story: Power and the Aqueduct