Imágenes de páginas
PDF
EPUB

generating installation at this project to the full project capacity of four units with a combined generating capacity of 108,000 kilowatts.

The total estimated cost of Watts Bar Dam and Reservoir increases from $35,000,000 to $35,900,000. This net increase results from the installation of two additional hydro-electric generating units at this project at a total estimated cost of $3,400,000 and a decrease of $2,500,000 in the total estimate of the project as originally authorized, resulting from savings realized in construction as the original project nears completion. The project as originally authorized included the immediate installation of three generating units and provided space for two additional units. The two additional units have been ordered and will be installed as a part of the second supplementary power program. They will add 60,000 kilowatts of generating capacity to the system and are scheduled for completion in the spring of 1943. The addition of these units will bring the total generating installation at this project to the full project capacity of 150,000 kilowatts. Except for completion of channel improvements downstream from the dam required for 9-foot navigation, this project, including the two additional units under the second supplementary power program, is scheduled to be substantially completed by the end of fiscal year 1943. The original project, including three generating units, will be completed and in full operation by the middle of the summer of 1942. Navigation channel improvements in connection with this project required to produce an adequate channel for 9-foot navigation will be about 52 percent complete by June 30, 1943.

The total estimated cost of Fort Loudoun Dam and Reservoir is increased from $29,500,000 to $44,000,000. The previous estimate provided for the installation of two generating units, with a combined capacity of 64,000 kilowatts, which are now under construction. The present estimate provides for the installation of two additional generating units with a capacity of 32,000 kilowatts each, bringing the total generating installation to the full project capacity of 128,000 kilowatts. The two additional units will be installed as a part of the third supplementary power program and are scheduled for completion in August and September 1944. The present estimate also provides for a diversion dam across the Little Tennessee River to add the lower portion of that river to the Fort Loudoun Reservoir. This extension is made especially advantageous with the construction of the Fontana project upstream on the Little Tennessee. The two arms of the Fort Loudoun Reservoir will be connected by a canal sufficiently wide and deep to provide for 9-foot navigation. The inclusion of the Little Tennessee River in the Fort Loudoun Reservoir will increase the flood storage capacity of the project from 130,000 acre-feet to 270,000 acre-feet and will increase the continuous electric energy available on the system by approximately 18,000 kilowatts. The estimate for 1943 for the Fort Loudoun Dam and Reservoir includes funds for acquisition of approximately 44 percent of the land required for this project, making land acquisition about 80 percent complete by the end of fiscal year 1943. The construction schedule for this project requires that all relocations and reservoir clearing in the Tennessee River portion of the reservoir area be completed by the spring of 1943, and in the Little Tennessee portion by the fall of that year. The 1943 estimate includes funds for construction of the dam at a rate commensurate with the advanced schedule for completion of the project.

The project formerly described as Hiwassee Dam and Reservoir is now grouped with four dam and reservoir projects on the Hiwassee River, and its tributaries and the entire group of five dams is designated as the Hiwassee projects. The total estimated cost of the group is $55,985,271. The total estimated cost of Hiwassee Dam and Reservoir within this group, with one generator installed, is $17,385,271 which is in substantial agreement with the previous estimate for this project. Four dams, Apalachia, Ocoee No. 3, Chatuge, and Nottely are being built as a part of the second supplementary power program at a total estimated cost of $36,800,000. The latter two will be completed in fiscal year 1942. The Apalachia and Ocoee No. 3 projects will be completed in 1943. The total estimate for the group includes $1,800,000 for installation of an additional hydroelectric generating unit in space already provided at Hiwassee Dam. This unit will be installed as a part of the third supplementary power program and will add 57,600 kilowatts of generating capacity to the system. It is scheduled for completion in the fall of 1944 and will being the total generating installation at Hiwassee Dam to the full ultimate capacity of 115,200 kilowatts.

The total estimated cost of Cherokee Dam and Reservoir is reduced from $34,500,000 to $31,500,000 resulting from savings realized in the construction of this project. These savings are being achieved in spite of the extreme speed with which this project is being completed. Final closure of this dam was accom

plished on December 5, 1941, a month ahead of the schedule submitted to Congress in connection with the regular appropriation request for 1942. The three generators at this project are scheduled to be in service in the summer of 1942, from 2 to 4 months earlier than shown on the schedule submitted to Congress in connection with the regular appropriation request for 1942.

The total estimated cost of Fontana Dam and Reservoir, $48,000,000, agrees with the estimate submitted in connection with the third supplementary power program. Closure of this dam is scheduled for the summer of 1944 and three generators, with a capacity of 67,000 kilowatts each, are scheduled to be in service in the spring of 1945.

The 1943 estimate includes $18,900,000 for continuation of construction of the South Holston and Watauga projects to provide for completion of these projects at the earliest possible date. Congress approved these projects December 15,

1941.

The total estimated cost of Watts Bar steam plant is increased from $14,500,000 to $18,200,000 to provide for an expansion of this plant. The expansion consists of the addition of a fourth 60,000-kilowatt steam electric-generating unit with necessary appurtenances. This unit being built as a part of the third supplementary power program will bring the plant capacity to 240,000 kilowatts. It is scheduled to be in service January 1, 1944.

The 1943 estimate includes $2,000,000 for an additional generating unit at the Sheffield steam plant for which Congress appropriated $2,000,000 for fiscal year 1942 on December 15, 1941. While the burden imposed by the national emergency upon the limited number of manufacturers who can produce this type of equipment may not permit completion of this unit before the end of calendar year 1944, all contracts must be awarded during 1942 and 1943, and the full amount estimated to complete this unit is requested in 1943 so that full advantage may be taken of the earliest possible delivery date for the equipment required.

Except for the South Holston and Watauga projects and the addition to the Sheffield steam plant, the 1943 estimates are based on revised schedules to comply with the requirements of the national emergency, to secure continuity in progress in the unified development of the Tennessee River, to achieve the best use of construction equipment, and to achieve maximum economy consistent with other requirements. The 1943 estimates for the South Holston and Watauga projects and the Sheffield steam-plant additions follow from the total estimates for these projects and appropriations made for them for 1942 by Congress in H. R. 6159. In the event that physical conditions do not permit full utilization of the funds made available for these projects in 1942, any unobligated balances will have to be carried forward to 1943 to permit compliance with the scheduled completion dates. The schedule upon which the estimates are based are portrayed graphically on plate 1.

Investigations for future unified system projects.

The estimates for fiscal year 1943 as shown in the second major item of table 2 include $86,000 for office studies and field investigations for future projects. This work is essential to the evaluation of possible future additions to the Tennessee Valley Authority system of unified projects and will enable the Authority to respond quickly to additional demands for new power supply in the event the national defense emergency requires such increase. Expenditures made under this heading in prior years enabled the Authority to take prompt action in initiating construction of the supplemental defense power projects.

Transmission and other electric plant.

The next item on table 2 presents the actual and estimated obligations for necessary expansion of facilities for delivery of power to the Authority's customers; for the interconnection of the Authority's existing system with the facilities purchased from utility companies in Alabama, Mississippi, and Tennessee, with new projects being built for defense power and with other utilities with which the Authority is interchanging power for defense needs; and for the rehabilitation of purchased properties.

The 1943 estimate of $25,076,000 includes $4,963,000 for construction of switchvard at the new generating plants and additional units at completed plants to be under construction in that year, and $20,113,000 for necessary expansion of the transmission system and for miscellaneous improvements to other electric property. The facilities proposed for construction during that fiscal year are planned to meet increased power requirements in the area served by the Authority and to reinforce the present transmission system.

The estimate of $4,963,000 for switchyards includes $4,304,000 for construction of facilities required under the emergency national-defense programs at the Hiwassee projects, Fontana, South Holston, and Watauga Dams, and the Watts Bar and Sheffield steam plant and switchyard additions at downstream projects to accommodate the additional generators being installed under those programs. The estimate of $20,113,000 for the expansion of the transmission and distribution system and miscellaneous electric-plant improvements includes $8,488,000 for so-called normal expansion, $10,620,000 for additions required in connection with the national-defense programs and $1,005,000 for the proration of engineering administrative, and general expense applicable to all programs. The major items included in the $8,488,000 required for normal system expansion are $4,491,000 to interconnect the Kentucky and the Fort Loudoun Dams with the transmission system, $2,715,000 for system expansion required by increased loads, and $995,000 for rehabilitation and integration of existing facilities. The facilities contemplated for normal system expansion are required to deliver energy from generating plants constructed under the normal program and to create an integrated reliable transmission system for delivery of all power and are, therefore, vitally essential for national-defense purposes even though these facilities have not been directly alined with the supplementary power programs.

The $10,620,000 required in connection with the defense programs provide for the construction of transmission facilities necessary to interconnect the additional generating capacity with the rest of the transmission system and to market the power. The location and termini of the lines required for the defense needs have not as yet been definitely determined, since the location of the loads to be served is to be established by the Office of Production Management. Some of the larger

projects now being considered, however, are connections for the new Hiwassee projects and lines from Edmonton, Ky., to Watts Bar Dam; a substation at Edmonton; substation additions at Watts Bar and Alcoa; connections for the Fontana, South Holston, and Watauga generating plants; and connections for additional downstream generators.

It is contemplated that the proceeds of bond issues now authorized will be entirely obligated in 1942, and none of the work to be done in 1943 will be financed from this source.

Obligations of municipalities and associations.

The estimate for 1943 includes $215,000 for the provision of facilities to be transferred, in return for mortgage liens, to municipalities and cooperatives for necessary extension of their systems. Of this amount, $185,000 represents transfers of distribution facilities owned by the Authority which, it is intended. will be disposed of to these agencies, and it is offset by an equal credit under "Transmission and other electric plant." The remaining $30,000 is for small construction jobs which the Authority will be in a better position to perform for these agencies than they will themselves. It is estimated that repayments on loans already outstanding will amount to $162,000 in 1943. Power Inventories.

It is estimated that power inventories will have to be increased by $66,000 in 1943, of which $55,000 is to provide a reserve coal supply for the third unit of the Watts Bar steam plant, which is scheduled to go on the line in the fall of 1942. Other power inventories, which were built up considerably in 1941, and will have to be further expanded in 1942 to keep pace with the rapid growth in the system, will have reached a sufficient level by the beginning of 1943 to require only a small increase in that year.

PLATE 1.-Proposed program of construction, Dec. 24, 1941

[blocks in formation]

1 Storage project; no generating units at project.

NOTE.-Dams, unless otherwise indicated, are located on the Tennessee River.

PLATE 2.-Navigation improvements on the Tennessee River, 1934-44, Sept. 30, 1941

[blocks in formation]

1 Depths of 11 feet provide a 9-foot draft navigable channel, as authorized by the Tennessee Valley Authority Act, from Paducah to Knoxville.

[merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small]

Table 3 presents the actual and estimated income and expense of navigation, flood-control, and power operations for the fiscal years 1941, 1942, and 1943. It will be noted that in 1491 power revenues met all expenses of this program, before depreciation, and left a surplus of $10,774,860, which was more than double the net expense of all the other operating expenses of the Authority. This program thus produced sufficient net cash income to meet all the operating expenses of the Authority, and in addition to reduce substantially the amount of appropriations required for investment in permanent assets. The estimates for 1943 indicate that in that year the surplus from this program, $19,892,000, will be nearly four times the net expense of all the other operating programs. The estimated net surplus nearly doubles from 1942 to 1943.

Navigation and flood-control operations

Actual expense, fiscal year 1941.
Estimated expense, fiscal year 1942.

Estimated expense, fiscal year 1943.

$125,806

149,000

152,000

« AnteriorContinuar »