A behind-the-scenes look at the Grand Coulee Dam

A group of Vera Water and Power employees recently took a hard-hat tour of Washington state’s Grand Coulee Dam. The tour, which the Public Power Council sponsored, highlighted the benefits of the Grand Coulee Dam and the Columbia River projects.

Vera’s power comes from the Bonneville Power Administration (BPA), which generates power from Columbia, Snake dams, and other Northwest rivers, including the Grand Coulee Dam. The tour gave our employees a behind-the-scenes look at how this power is generated and marketed.

The tour showcased the incredible engineering of the Grand Coulee Dam, which is the largest hydroelectric power-producing facility in the United States. Our team saw the dam’s inner workings, including the massive turbines that generate electricity and the system of reservoirs and canals that manage the flow of water. BPA sells the electricity generated by the dam to public utility companies like Vera. This model allows for low-cost hydropower that benefits everyone in the community.

The tour included the history of public power and the role that dams, like the Grand Coulee, have played in shaping the region. Various environmental mitigation efforts that have been implemented to ensure that power generation is sustainable for future generations were also presented. Overall, the hard-hat tour of the Grand Coulee Dam allowed our employees to see firsthand the incredible power of public power.

We feel proud of being a part of this legacy and grateful for the low-cost, reliable power it provides to our community.