Olympus Dam and 8.1kw Marys Lake and 45kw Estes Park Hydro Plants in Estes Park, CO

Marys Lake: (Satellite)

Estes Park: (Satellite)

Dam: (Satellite)

Aaron Kulas posted
Near Estes Park, CO
The head is 515' [usbr]

nps
This is two of the three 15kw generator units in the Estes Park Powerhouse.

nps
Each unit is fed by a 78" diameter penstock. Most of the 4000' penstocks are under a mountain between Marys Lake and the powerhouse. But a 600' long section is above ground.

Unlike most powerhouses, the Olumpus Dam does not store water for the powerhouses. Instead, it is downstream of the powerhouses, and it provides the afterbay that smooths out the flow of water from the Estes Park powerhouse.

LC-DIG-highsm- 33314 (ONLINE) [P&P]
Olympus Dam, which turns a portion of the Big Thompson River in Larimer County, Colorado, into Lake Estes, east of downtown in the town of Estes Park
Credit line: Gates Frontiers Fund Colorado Collection within the Carol M. Highsmith Archive, Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division.

usbr
Structural Height: 70', Hydraulic Height: 45'; Crest Length: 320'
Spillway Capacity at 7475': 21,200cfs; Max Water Elevation: 7487'

 

EstesParkNews, Bureau of Reclamation photo
In the Fall of 2022, the bureau dropped the level of the lake for upgrades to this dam. "At the same time, the Marys Lake Powerplant, southwest of Estes Park, will undergo a unit runner replacement and turbine overhaul. "

The conduit for the Marys Lake Powerhouse is fed by the east portal of the Adams Tunnel. That portal does not have a lake so there is no forebay for the powerhouse, which runs as a base load plant with a plant factor of 58%. Marys Lake is a forebay for the Estes Park Powerhouse, and it has Estes Lake as its afterbay, so its output fluctuates to meet daily variations in energy demand. Thus its production mode is "intermediate." Its load factor is 26.2%. [various mouse clicks in usbr]

These topo maps show the conduit that went from Marys Lake to the Estes Park Powerhouse.

1957 Estes Park and Longs Peak Quads @ 24,000

Similarly, most of the conduit that supplies Marys Lake is under another mountain. This conduit is fed by the Alva B. Adams Tunnel.

1957 Longs Peak Quad @ 24,000