Electricity: Hydro Power

Baker River Hydroelectric Project

Lower Baker Dam

PSE's largest hydropower facility is the Baker River Hydroelectric Project. Located on a tributary of the Skagit River in northwest Washington, the project has two dams, each with its own powerhouse. The dams' reservoirs, Baker Lake and Lake Shannon, are fed by runoff from the flanks of Mount Baker and Mount Shuksan.

Lower Baker Dam, completed in 1925, is a 285-foot-high concrete structure with 79 megawatts of power-generating capacity. The 312-foot-high Upper Baker Dam, completed in 1959, has a generating capacity of 91 megawatts. The power project contains extensive salmon-propagation facilities, including a new, innovative fish-transport system.

Upper Baker Dam's new "Floating Surface Collector"

The project also provides numerous amenities for public recreation and flood control for communities in the Skagit River Valley. PSE received a new, long-term federal operating license for the project in October 2008.

Download the PDF fact sheets

• Baker River Hydroelectric Project
  
• PSE efforts aim to boost Baker River salmon population

News Releases

• Puget Sound Energy salmon-protection efforts receive national recognition for second time this year (5/12/2009)
• PSE awarded new 50-year license for Baker hydropower facility (10/20/2008)
  

Videos

• "A Return on Investment: A Fish Story" Play this twenty minute documentary about Baker dam and the floating surface collector.
  
• Baker Lake Floating Surface Collector Play this 7 minute video which illustrates the design and function of the Floating Surface Collector fish transport system behind Upper Baker Dam.

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