Specifications
Folsom Dam is located shortly north of the city of Folsom and consists of a 340 ft (100 m) high, 1,400 ft (430 m) long concrete gravity dam containing 1,170,000 cu yd (890,000 m3) of material. The dam is flanked by two earthen wing dikes, and the reservoir is held in place by an additional nine saddle dams on the west and southeast sides. The wing dams total a length of 8,800 ft (2,700 m), and the saddle dams measure 16,530 ft (5,040 m) long combined. The dam and appurtenant dikes total a length of 26,730 ft (8,150 m), more than 5 mi (8.0 km). Floodwaters are released by a spillway located on the main channel dam, controlled by eight radial gates with a capacity of 567,000 cu ft/s (16,100 m3/s), as well as a set of outlet works with a capacity of 115,000 cu ft/s (3,300 m3/s).
The impounded water behind the dam forms Folsom Lake, with a normal maximum pool of 1,010,000 acre·ft (1,250,000 dam³) and a surcharge capacity of 110,000 acre·ft (140,000 dam³), for a total capacity of 1,120,000 acre·ft (1,380,000 dam³). At its maximum elevation of 480 ft (150 m), the reservoir covers 11,930 acres (4,830 ha), with 75 mi (121 km) of shoreline. The dam and reservoir control runoff from an area of 1,875 sq mi (4,860 km2), or 87.6% of the 2,140 sq mi (5,500 km2) American River watershed.
Folsom Power Plant is located on the north side of the river, at the base of the dam. It has three Francis turbines with a combined capacity of 198.72 megawatts (MW), uprated from its original capacity of 162 MW in 1972. The power plant's electricity production is intermediate, between peaking and base load. It generally operates during the day, when the demand and price for electricity is the highest. The plant produces an average of 691,358,000 kilowatt hours each year.
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