Roll On Columbia

FORBES DATA DRIVEN – ENERGY Roll On, Columbia GRAND COULEE DAM GRAND COULEE DAM OUTPUT 6,494 MW The West's most voluminous river is The Bulge also a giant intelligence network, which reads 4,000 water sensors high in the Rockies and real-time power fluctuations tO create a perfect flow. Every morning the Grand Coulee Dam releases a giant pulse of water timed carefully to reach ten more dams CHIEF JOSEPH DAM OUTPUT 2,069 MW downstream over the next 18 hours. Here's how the river flowed just below Grand Coulee on Aug. 25: 5 A.M: 322,000. GALLONS/SECOND WELLS DAM Electricity demand is low overnight; the river sleeps. The Demand OUTPUT 840 MW 10 A.M: 912,000. Objectives GALLONS/SECOND Conservationists, farmers and The dam gates have opened as the West Coast goes to work. water-skiers want high reservoirs during dry seasons. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers needs www Prevent Flooding 2 P.M: 1,421,000. ROCKY REACH DAM GALLONS/SECOND The river's volume has quadrupled; its surface is up 13 feet. Conserve Salmon the water low in advance of wet OUTPUT 1,347 MW seasons to prevent flooding. The Corps creates an annual plan Generate Electricity The Grid that balances all needs. It narrowly avoided flooding in Portland this spring during the ROCK ISLAND DAM Irrigate Farms The federal dams in the Columbia basin produce $2.2 billion worth of electricity, meeting two-thirds of the Northwest's demand. The surplus goes to California and Canada. near-record runoff. OUTPUT 623 MW River O Navigation PRECIPITATION WANAPUM DAM OUTPUT 1,038 MW SNOWPACK Municipal Water GROUND MOISTURE Water Recreation SNOWMELT PRIEST RAPIDS DAM OUTPUT 956 MW The Wind The Brains The BPA adjusts hydro output every four seconds, responding to grid supply and demand and compensating when still weather idles the region's wind turbines. MCNARY DAM The Corps of Engineers, National Weather Service and Bonneville Power Administration (BPA), among other U.S. and Canadian agencies, run sophisticated simulations of river flow, often daily, and monitor some 25,000 data points every hour, such as fish counts, river height and OUTPUT 980 MW MEGAWATTS 9000 HYDRO 8000 JOHN DAY DAM 7000 OUTPUT 2,160 MW LOAD 6000 water temperature. 5000 4000 WIND 3000 THE DALLES DAM 2000 1000 OUTPUT 1,780 MW 10/10/11 10/11/11 BONNEVILLE DAM BONNEVILLE DAM FOR MORE ON HOW BUSINESSES ARE HARNESSING DATA AND ANALYTICS, FOLLOW US ONLINE AT Www.FORBES.COM/DATA-DRIVEN. 58 | FORBES NOVEMBER 7, 2011 OUTPUT 1,050 MW CONS AND ILLUSTRATION, ATHLET