Harza Engineering and Guy F Atkinson Construction Com-pany, both from the US, have been awarded the national-hydropower-association’s 1998 Hydro Achievement Award for Technological Solutions.
The award was for the team’s innovative design and construction of the McNary dam fishway hydroelectric project on the Columbia river in the US. The project involved modifying an existing auxiliary water supply system to provide additional power generation and improve fish passage facilities.
The project generated enough electricity for 10,000 homes by using the formerly wasted energy of the fishway attraction water. In addition, it also reduced the mortality rates for the juvenile salmonoids from 90% to 6-14%.
The National Hydropower Association started the awards in 1994 to recognise innovative methods, resourcefulness and creativity demonstrated by members of the US hydro power industry when meeting the challenges associated with hydroelectric development.