The Yards Creek Pumped Storage Electric Generating Station is a generating facility that really consumes more power than it generates!
The Yards Creek purpose is to met peak power demands for electricity as people wake up and later in the day as stores open and industry uses more power. Pumped storage while a low investment does have a high operating cost and is used to met only peak demands as the water is pumped up the mountain during non-peak power needs.
The pumped storage plant consists of two areas, one on top of the mountain, primarily the upper reservoir and the lower areas. The water flows by a huge pipeline visible from Allumuchy State Park 40 miles away.
The pumps in the powerhouse are reversible pump turbines that combine with reversible motor-generators that act as motors in one direction when pumping the water uphill and generators when the water flows downhill.
The Yards Creek station has three units each with a capacity of 110,000 kilowatts.
At night when conventional high efficiency power companies have excess capacity and surplus power, the electricity is used to operate the motor-generation as a pump to force water from the lower reservoir to the upper reservoir a mile from the upper reservoir and 700 feet higher in elevation where it is stored until peak electrical usage approaches. The water is used over and over again.
Do to the loses in running the motors and friction in moving the water, it takes 3 kilowatts-hours of pumping uphill to generate 2 kilowatt-hours of electricity when generating. The lower cost of off-peak power to that compared to the rate charged for on-peak power makes the operation cost effective. It is only the cost difference, and low investment of the pump-storage unit vs conventional generator that make "peak power production" from the facitility economical.
The public can visit the yard's education center, picnic areas, natureal lookouts, drinking fountains, comfort stations, parking areas and hiking trails.
Click on map for blow-up of the hiking trails and area map
Power Plant Statistics:
Upper Reservoir 1,560,000,000 Gallons
Elevation 1,555 feet
Tunnel 1,548 feet
Diameter 20 feet
Slope 17 percent
Length 1,861 feet
Lower portion 313 feet
Diameter 19 and 18 feet
Rated Electrical Capacity 330,000 kilowatts
Maximum output of turbine 180,000 horsepower each
Kittatinny Substation - 230,000 volt transmission lines
Lower Reservoir 1,760,000,000 Gallons
elevation 818 feet
There were no pictures available , i wonder why..??
try googleing Yards Creek Power Plant
what a waste of power..!