Pacific Southwest Water Plan - Report August 1963

Document: Pacific Southwest Water Plan "Printed Copy" Chapter V, August 26 ,1963 page 4increase in thermal generation capacity. The Colorado River has a remaining potential of only about 4,000 megawatts available for further development. The proposed Bridge Canyon and Marble Canyon powerplants would develop 2,100 megawatts, with the remainder at other undeveloped sites. pacific Northwest and, possibly, Alaskan hydroelectric power transmitted over direct-current lines offers the only other substantial hydroelectric potential to serve a portion of the future projected load. Future economics and technological developments will determine the extent to which these potential sources may participate. Thermoelectric--The major portion of the future electrical energy demand in the Pacific Southwest will be generated by thermoelectric plants. In the future, thermal units in Arizona probably will utilize coal or gas. Thermal units in southern California will probably continue to use local and imported gas and oil in the future. In the Pacific Southwest, the possibility exists that western coal will be transported to the load centers by means of coal slurry pipelines or unitized trains. It is foreseen that nuclear generation will become a major source of energy by 1985. Reserves of fossil fuels are more than adequate to meet foreseeable future power needs. Estimated proven reserves of natural gas in California, as of 1961, were 9.1 trillion cubic feet. Interconnected fields in the Rocky Mountain States and Texas contained an estimated 143 trillion cubic feet in 1960. Tied-in pipelines make at least a portion of the total quantity available to the Pacific Southwest area. Proven reserves of crude petroleum in California, as of 1961, were 3.9 billion barrels. Although other Western States'oil reserves could be tapped, oil is not expected to play a vigorous role in the expanding thermal generation field. While California has only 47 million tons of coal and lignite, Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah have a combined bituminous coal reserve of 85 billion tons. Arizona's undetermined coal reserves are indicated to be substantial. Coal-fired plants are being constructed near the source of coal in northwestern New Mexico and northwestern Colorado, and will use extra high voltage transmission lines to deliver the power to the market area. Another unit will burn coal from the southern Utah fields to serve the southern Nevada electric load. Nuclear power is now becoming part of the power producing plants in the Southwest. An experimental plant of 7,500 kilowatt capacity is in operation near Chatsworth, California. Construction on a 395,000 kilowatt plant is anticipated in the near future at Camp Pendleton, California, and another California coast plant with 462,000 kilowatt capacity is in the planning stage. V-4Epson Perfection 4870 Photo, 400 dpi, 8 bit, 1,266,996 byte