Grand River Dam Authority
| Industry | Utility |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1935 |
| Headquarters | Vinita, Oklahoma, USA |
|
Area served
|
Oklahoma and 3 other states |
|
Key people
|
Dan Sullivan, CEO and Director of Investments |
| Products | Electric power and water |
| Revenue | US$412 million (2012) |
|
Number of employees
|
500 (approx.) |
The Grand River Dam Authority (GRDA) is a non-profit Oklahoma agency created to control, develop, and maintain the Grand River waterway. It was created by the Oklahoma state legislature in 1935, and is headquartered in Vinita, Oklahoma. GRDA was designed to be self-funding from the sales of electricity and water. The state of Oklahoma was to provide no funding from taxes. The Authority was authorized to issue revenue bonds to fund large-scale capital investments.
According to GRDA's 2012 Annual Report, the agency had nearly US $412 million in operating revenue for 2012, compared to nearly US $395.5 million in 2011.
It operates three hydroelectric facilities and two reservoirs, Grand Lake, Lake Hudson, and the Salina Pumped Storage Project, which includes Lake W. R. Holway, It also owns and operates the GRDA Energy Center (formerly named the GRDA Coal-Fired Complex). The Energy Control Center, home of the GRDA's System Operations Center, is at the Robert S. Kerr Dam, just north of Locust Grove, Oklahoma. Its joint ventures include the Canadian Hills wind farm. GRDA's jurisdiction covers 24 counties in northeastern Oklahoma.
The Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture credits Henry Holderman, a member of the Cherokee tribe, as first envisioning Grand River as a source for hydroelectric power for the Cherokee Nation. Even prior to Oklahoma statehood in 1907, Holderman began building political support for such a project. A feasibility study by the Army Corps of Engineers attracted favorable attention in the Oklahoma legislature, leading to creation of the Grand River Dam Authority (GRDA), a state agency, in 1935. Construction began in 1938 on the Pensacola Dam on the Grand River (lower Neosho River) as a Works Progress Administration project. The dam was completed in March 1940, creating the lake behind it. Between 1941 and 1946, the U.S. government took control of Pensacola Dam to divert power to the war effort. Control was returned to the GRDA by the Congress and President Truman amid local celebration in August 1946.
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Wikipedia