List of hydroelectric power station failures - Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_hydroelectric_power_station_fai...

List of hydroelectric power station failures

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is a list of major hydroelectric power station failures due to damage to a hydroelectric power station or
its connections. Every generating station trips from time to time due to minor defects and can usually be
restarted when the defect has been remedied. Various protections are built into the stations to cause
shutdown before major damage is caused. Some hydroelectric power station failures may go beyond the
immediate loss of generation capacity, including destruction of the turbine itself, reservoir breach and
significant destruction of national grid infrastructure downstream. These can take years to remedy in some
cases.

Where a generating station is large compared to the connected grid capacity, any failure can cause extensive
disruption with in the network. A serious failure in a proportionally large hydroelectric generating station or
its associated transmission line will remove a large block of power from the grid that may lead to
widespread disturbances.

List of failures

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Plant Location Description Year Reference

Destroyed during WWII by RAF Lancaster
Mhne
Ruhr bombers during Operation Chastise. 5.1 MW 1943
Reservoir
capacity lost for about 6 weeks.
Destroyed during WWII by RAF Lancaster
Edersee Dam Ruhr 1943
bombers during Operation Chastise.
Destruction of the plant as it fell from the gorge
wall and collapsed into the river, caused by water
Schoellkopf Niagara [2]
seeping into the back wall of the power station. 1956
Power Station Falls, NY
One worker was killed and damage was estimated
at $100 million USD.
Overtopping due to instability, with the evidence
Vajont Dam Italy of the instability suppressed by the Government. 1963
1,917 deaths
The power house was damaged due to an Indian
Kashmir, Air Force raid during the Indo-Pakistani War of [3]
Mangla Dam 1971
Pakistan 1971. The 1000 MW hydro project was
temporarily out of service.
26,000 dead from flooding, 145,000 dead from
subsequent famine and epidemics, 11 million
Banqiao Dam China 1975
homeless. Caused loss of generation, dam failed
by overtopping in a 1-in-2,000 year flood[4]
The dam foundations washed away and a wave
swept aside everything in its path, including two
Teton Dam Idaho, USA 1976
towns, at least eleven people, and thousands of
cattle.[5]
Machchhu Dam Machchhu 1800 - 25000 people killed.[6] 1976
Due to poor reservoir operation, flood water
overflowed into the semi underground power
house (770 MW) from the point where a
protection wall was to be constructed before
Srisailam Dam India power house commissioning in 1987. Flood water 1998 [7]
deluge caused the complete submergence of
power house, massive debris accumulation,
electrical equipment replacement and loss of
power generation for a year
Bieudron
1269 MW loss, penstock rupture, three fatalities, [8]
Hydroelectric Switzerland 2000
flooding and loss of generating capacity
Power Station
Due to its being designed without a spillway and
continuing to operate when management knew the
Taum Sauk gauging system was faulty, the upper reservoir
Missouri, was overtopped when water continued to be [9][10][11]
Hydroelectric 2005
USA pumped from the lower reservoir after the upper
Power Station
was already full. A large section of the upper
reservoir failed, draining over a billion gallons of

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Plant Location Description Year Reference

water (4 million m) in less than half an hour.
There were no fatalities, but five people were
injured. The failure resulted in permanent damage
to the surrounding landscape and power
generation did not resume until 2010.
see also: 2009
18 GW power generation loss due to storm Brazil and
Itaipu Dam Brazil 2009
damage of transmission lines Paraguay
blackout
Sayano 2009 Sayano-Shushenskaya hydro accident, 6
Shushenskaya Russia GW power generation loss, 75 fatalities, due to 2009 [12]
Dam turbine failure
Unprecedented flood and poor reservoir operation
and an upstream dam failure causing the complete
submergence of power house (770 MW). Massive [13]
Srisailam Dam India 2009
debris accumulation, electrical equipment
replacement and loss of total generation capacity
for a year.
Vishnuprayag
hydro electric Flash floods resulted in accumulation of huge [14]
India 2013
station (400 quantity of muck and debris in the dam reservoir
MW)
Unprecedented flash floods in June, 2013 in the
Dhauliganga State of Uttarakhand causing the complete
hydro electric submergence of power house. Massive debris [15]
India 2013
station (280 accumulation, electrical equipment replacement
MW) and loss of total generation capacity for more than
six months.
Uri-II Power
A Strong fire incident happened in one of the
Station (240 India 2014
Transformers of the Power Station.
MW)
Oroville Dam USA Damaged spillway caused evacuation of 180,000 2017 -

Not listed here but need to be added:

Malpasset Dam
St. Francis Dam
Manitou dam, Manitou Springs, Colorado, 1924 at 385235.47N 1045938.30W
Moyie Dam (the Eileen Dam), Moyie Springs, Idaho, 1925 at 48.77550N 116.15514W
Lake Lanier, North Carolina, 1926
Purisima dam, California, 1930

See also
Dam failure
List of power outages
Hydraulic engineering

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Hydroelectricity
List of significant thermal power station failures
Operation Chastise
Malpasset Dam
St. Francis Dam

References
1. "Historical Review: Bombings of Dams" (PDF). Bulletin. Canadian Dam Association. Winter 2009. Retrieved
11 August 2011.
2. Schoellcopf collapse (http://www.niagarafrontier.com/schoellkopf.html)
3. "Hunter". Global Security.org. Retrieved 2007-07-09.
4. http://www.internationalrivers.org/resources/the-forgotten-legacy-of-the-banqiao-dam-collapse-7821
5. http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/01/02/a-bigger-problem-than-isis
6. 1979 Machchhu dam failure
7. "Power house at Srisailam submerged". Retrieved 23 June 2014.
8. "Cleuson-Dixence Rehab Nears End". Tunnel Builder. August 9, 2008. Retrieved 22 January 2011.
9. "Taum Sauk Reservoir fails".
10. http://www.bpa.gov/power/PG/NW-HydroOperators-Forum/Materials/CaseStudyT-Sauk_Ehasz-Paul.pdf
Missouri University of Science & Technology: The 2005 Upper Taum Sauk Dam Failure:A Case History
11. http://www.ferc.gov/industries/hydropower/safety/projects/taum-sauk/staff-rpt.asp Federal Energy Regulatory
Commission Staff Report
12. Ilya Naymushin (2009-08-17). "Russian dam disaster kills 10, scores missing". Reuters. Retrieved 2009-08-17.
13. Managing historic flood in the Krishna river basin in the year 2009 (http://www.indiawaterportal.org
/node/12731)
14. http://www.dailypioneer.com/state-editions/dehradun/directive-to-vishnuprayag-project-builders-on-dumping-
of-silt.html
15. "Curtain Raiser on the events at NHPC's 280 MW Dhauliganga HEP" (PDF). Retrieved 1 November 2013.

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Categories: Hydroelectricity Energy accidents Electric power blackouts

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