The company has made this decision following an in-depth engineering inspection of the project dam after a leak in the dam reported in early October 2013, the third such leak in around five years, which also prompted a broader analysis of the facility.
PacifiCorp vice president for renewable resources Mark Tallman said the 100-year old plant is in safe and overall good condition and requires additional investment to operate in long-term, while the company has confirmed that it would not be cost-effective for its customers to make such investments at the project.
"After a century of producing clean, emission-free and affordable power for customers, it’s time to divest or retire our Bend hydroelectric plant.
"It simply isn’t cost-effective or in the best interests of all our customers throughout six western states for PacifiCorp to rebuild the facility and generate power to serve current and future generations of customers," added Tallman.
Besides diverting water for the project, the dam creates Mirror Pond on a section of the Deschutes River in downtown Bend. The Bend community has been in extensive public discussions of its desires and priorities for the future of Mirror Pond.
The company will hold talks with the Bend Parks and Recreation District and the City of Bend to determine if an agreement can be reached that places the dam under local control, allowing PacifiCorp to demonstrate regulators that the outcome is in the best interest of its customers.
