Key to Low-Carbon Future
Mark A. Gabriel is CEO of the Western Area Power Administration.
Western Area Power Administration (WAPA), part of the Department of Energy, is responsible for selling hydropower generated at fifty-seven federal hydroelectric dams in the western U.S. to about seven hundred long-term preference power customers in fifteen states.
Our customers, in turn, sell this at-cost, renewable, reliable hydropower to support the energy needs of more than forty million Americans. In addition to marketing hydropower, we also own, operate, and maintain an extensive high-voltage transmission system that is one of the top ten largest systems in the U.S.
Hydropower is one of eight purposes behind the federal dams. Each individual dam may not support all the legislated purposes, but typically they are multipurpose projects, supporting hydropower, navigation, flood control, irrigation, recreation, fish and wildlife, water quality, and water supply.
Hydropower is the proverbial goose that laid the golden egg: it pays for itself through power rates, but also supports the other critical missions of the dams. WAPA's power rates cover our own annual operations and maintenance as well as that of the generating agencies and pay for the original federal investment in the dam, plus interest.
Each year, we provide millions of dollars to the U.S. Treasury to meet repayment obligations for the water and power infrastructure. WAPA power rates also cover shortfalls if irrigators are unable to pay for their share of the water.