Talk:Courtright Reservoir

Seems inaccurate.
quote: "Wishon Reservoir, a couple of miles downstream on the Kings River, is the lower reservoir and main water source. During times of peak demand for electricity, which is also when it is most expensive, water is drained from Courtright Reservoir, run through the 1,212 MW Helms Power Plant and empties into Wishon Reservoir. When demand and prices for electricity are low, water is pumped from Wishon Reservoir to Courtright Reservoir using the power plant's reversible turbines. Helms Power Plant is 1,000 feet (300 m) underground in a chamber carved out of solid granite at the north end of Wishon Lake."

That's the conventional wisdom and local folklore, but it can't be true. The whole Wishon-Courtright-HelmsPlant complex is called the Helms Project. The underground Helms power plant drains into the Kings at or near Black Rock Reservoir (Near Sawmill Flat), in the foothills much lower than Wishon. (see maps) However, some of that folklore (oversimplification) is true. Also omitted from the story is that the power to pump the water uphill comes from the Diablo Canyon nuclear powerplant. (Nukes run at full-power just as cheaply as half-power.) So without Helms, that energy would be wasted. So "When demand and prices for electricity are low," more accurately is; "when electricity usage is below total electricity output." --71.128.255.226 (talk) 00:14, 26 June 2014 (UTC)Doug Bashford

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