HOOVER DAM

Inside Hoover Dam's hydroelectric power plant in the Upper Generator Room; this view shows the generators on the Arizona side of the dam. Turbines (unseen, and below the generators) are forced by water pressure to spin at 180 RPM's, creating motion energy that is converted here into electricity. The powerplant consists of 17 main Francis turbine generators and two Pelton Waterwheel station service units (one for each plant wing). The total plant capacity is 2,079 MW. (SOURCE: http://www.usbr.gov/power/data/sites/hoover/hoover.html).

Giant arms control the wicket gates in the Lower Generator Room inside Hoover Dam's hydroelectric power plant. Wicket gates (unseen in this photo) control the flow of water through the turbines, which in turn controls the amount of electric energy created by the generators.

Traffic flows on the Nevada side of Highway 93 toward Hoover Dam through a maze of high voltage power lines and the remains of the elaborate aerial cableway system that was used during the dam's construction in the 1930's. Hoover Dam and Lake Mead are seen in the background.

View of the down-stream side of Hoover Dam, a gravity arch dam. This is a view from above the power plant on the Arizona side of the Colorado River.

View of the Hoover Dam power plant and water outlets spilling into the Colorado River; photo taken from the Arizona side of Hoover Dam.

One of the four intake towers in Lake Mead at Hoover Dam. The diameter of these towers is 82 feet at the base, 63 feet 3 inches at the top, and 29 feet 8 inches inside. Each tower is 395 feet high and each controls one-fourth the supply of water for the powerplant turbines. The four towers contain 93,674 cubic yards of concrete and 15,299,604 pounds of steel.* (SOURCE: http://www.usbr.gov/lc/hooverdam/faqs/tunlfaqs.html).