# Detroit

BPA asset profile · https://askthegrid.com/assets/facilities/detroit

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Portland District - Marion County - BPAT

Detroit Dam is a 100 MW conventional hydroelectric plant with two 50 MW generators on the North Santiam River in Marion County, Oregon. The dam and powerhouse are owned and operated by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers as part of the Willamette Valley Project, a system of Corps dams built for flood control, power, navigation and irrigation on Willamette River tributaries. Built between 1949 and 1953 and dedicated on June 10, 1953, Detroit Dam impounds Detroit Lake, a roughly nine-mile-long reservoir, and works with the downstream Big Cliff re-regulating dam to allow its output to be cycled to meet daily peak demand. In 2021 the Corps determined the dam carries seismic risk in a major Cascadia earthquake, and the agency has more recently proposed deep winter drawdowns of Detroit Lake to aid endangered salmon passage, a plan Marion County has sued to block. The plant's output is settled in the Bonneville Power Administration market at nodes located at the Detroit powerhouse.

## Metrics

- **Nameplate capacity:** 100 MW — Canonical EIA plant baseline.
- **Registry anchor:** Plant 3077 — plant-3077

## Facts

- **Technology:** Conventional Hydroelectric
- **Operator:** U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Portland District

## Related parties

- **Owner / operator / asset manager:** U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Portland District — Owner, operator, and maintainer ([source](https://www.nwp.usace.army.mil/))
- **Power marketer / balancing authority:** Bonneville Power Administration — Exclusive marketer for federal commercial hydropower at Willamette Valley dams; balancing authority ([source](https://www.bpa.gov/))

## Sources

- [usace.contentdm.oclc.org](https://usace.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/api/collection/p16021coll6/id/2077/download) — usace.contentdm.oclc.org · public_source — Source retained for exact-record publication review.
- [water.usace.army.mil](https://water.usace.army.mil/cda/documents/wc/2610/WaterControlManualforDetroit_BigCliff_2017_Redacted.pdf) — water.usace.army.mil · public_source — Source retained for exact-record publication review.
- [bpa.gov](https://www.bpa.gov/-/media/Aep/about/publications/fact-sheets/fs-202604-willamette-valley-system-hydropower-generation.pdf) — bpa.gov · authoritative — Source retained for exact-record publication review.
- [bpa.gov](https://www.bpa.gov/-/media/Aep/finance/asset-management/public-materials-project-synopsis/detroit-transformers.pdf) — bpa.gov · authoritative — Source retained for exact-record publication review.
- [bpa.gov](https://www.bpa.gov/-/media/Aep/finance/asset-management/public-materials-project-synopsis/fy-2026-q3-fc-quarterly-project-status-report-package-public-report.pdf) — bpa.gov · authoritative — Source retained for exact-record publication review.

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Canonical page: https://askthegrid.com/assets/facilities/detroit
Website: [U.S. Army Corps of Engineers](https://www.nwp.usace.army.mil/)

Source: Ask the Grid — https://askthegrid.com/