A Guide to the Western Area Power Administration

What is the Western Area Power Administration?

The Western Area Power Administration, which is located in Denver, Colorado, is an independent agency who is responsible for marketing and delivering hydroelectric power and related services to a 15-tate region of the central and western portion of the United States of America.

The Western Area Power Administration is one of four power marketing administrations operating alongside the United States Department of Energy. As a result of this classification, the Western Area Power Administration possesses the authority and responsibility of marketing and transmitting electricity from various multi-use water projects to retail power distribution companies and public entities.

The Western Power Administration and its coordinating energy-producing partners are all separately managed and financed. Additionally, each water project maintains a separate financial system and database of records.

The transmission system of the Western Area Power Administration carries electricity from 55 hydropower plants operated by the United States Army Corps of Engineers, the Bureau of Reclamation and the International Boundary and Water Commission. Together, these plants possess a capacity of over 10,500 megawatts.

In addition to the aforementioned roles, the Western Area Power Administration also owns and operates several electric power substations, such as the Mead substation, to effectively distribute power throughout its designated regions.

Role of the Western Area Power Administration:

The Western Power Administration has constructed several portions of the critical Path 15 corridor that connects power grids in the Pacific Northwest and Southwest regions of the United States. Just recently, the Western Area Power Administration helped solve a transmission bottleneck in California; the bottleneck was one of the primary causes of the California electricity crisis that occurred in the early 2000s.

Government Agency of the Executive Branch:

Government agencies are defined as organizations, councils, and offices operating under the jurisdiction of the Federal Government of the United States of America; each federal agency retains specific administrative jurisdiction over specific facets latent within the operations of the United States Government.

The Western Area Power Administration functions as a government agency under the Executive Branch of the United States government, which is comprised of 3 total branches; in addition to the Executive branch – which is responsible for the regulation and enforcement of operational legislation existing within the United States of America – there also exists the Legislative and Judicial Branches.

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