Upper North Fork Feather River Project

The Upper North Fork Feather River Project is a hydroelectric scheme in the Sierra Nevada of California, within Lassen and Plumas Counties. The project consists of three dams, five power plants, and multiple conduits and tunnels in the headwaters of the North Fork Feather River, a major tributary of the Feather—Sacramento River systems. The total installed capacity is 362.3 megawatts (MW), producing an annual average of 1,171.9 gigawatt hours (GWh). The project is also contracted for the delivery of irrigation water between March 31 and October 31 of each year. The project is owned and operated by Pacific Gas and Electric.

The project is one of several on the North Fork and its tributaries, forming a hydroelectric system so extensive it has been dubbed the "Stairway of Power".

The project was conceived in the early 1900s under the Great Western Power Company to provide hydroelectricity and water storage for irrigation in the Sacramento Valley. In 1908, the Big Bend or Las Plumas powerhouse was completed on the North Fork southeast of Paradise, generating 40 MW (later uprated to 70 MW) of hydroelectricity, which was sent as far away as Oakland, 154 miles (248 km) away. The power station replaced an earlier 1880 plant built by the Big Bend Tunnel and Mining Company for gold mining operations in the area which ultimately were unprofitable. In 1910, the Big Bend Dam, first permanent dam on the Feather River, was completed to increase the hydraulic head available to the powerhouse.

During the early years of the project, few roads existed in this rugged section of the Sierra, so construction supplies were delivered via the Western Pacific Railroad, which was also under construction at the time. At its completion, the Big Bend power plant had the largest turbines, transformers and penstocks of any hydroelectric plant in the world. However, year-round generation at the plant was an impossibility due to the seasonal flow fluctuations of the river.

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