Overview

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) Southwestern Division (SWD) is the second largest operator of hydroelectric power plants in USACE.  Within SWD, there are 18 Corps of Engineers owned hydroelectric power plants located in six states which generate 3.2 billion kWh annually of clean energy. SWD provides 88% of the energy delivered to the Southwestern Power Administration (SWPA)

Mission

Our hydropower mission is to provide a reliable source of electricity, reduce the amount of greenhouse gases produced, and reduce the dependence on fossil fuels such as coal, oil, and natural gas.  The electricity produced at these power plants is marketed by SWPA and is sold to not-for-profit municipal utilities, military installations and rural electric cooperatives for use by the citizens of Arkansas, Kansas, Louisiana, Missouri, Oklahoma, and Texas.

Did You Know…?

• In addition to the 18 federally owned projects, there are also 8 non-federal hydropower plants located at our facilities in Oklahoma, Arkansas and Texas that are operated by local power authorities at no cost to the government
   

• In Fiscal Year 2013, $199 million was returned to the U.S. Treasury from the generation of electricity in SWD.

• Over 8 million customers use hydroelectric energy produced in SWD.  Since the average household uses 10,500 kWh of electricity annually, this is equivalent to 625,500 households being supplied with clean renewable energy supplied by SWD’s hydroelectric plants.

• 10.9 million barrels of oil, 3.2 thousand tons of coal, or 49.5 billion cubic feet of natural gas would have been required to produce the equivalent amount of electricity generated by hydropower plants within SWD in Fiscal Year 2013.

• In Fiscal year 2013, using hydropower to generate electricity reduced greenhouse gas emissions by 4.1 thousand tons of carbon dioxide, 12.2 thousand tons of sulfur dioxide, and 9.7 thousand tons of nitrogen dioxide.