Portland, Ore. - Visit Bonneville Dam’s Washington Shore visitor center from now through Feb. 2020 to experience Bonneville Power Administration’s (BPA) High Voltage DC (HVDC) Test Center exhibit.
Visit on Nov. 30 at 2:30 p.m. and hear from Libby Burke, Bonneville Power Administration’s library archivist, who will present a public talk on the research, innovation and tools that helped to transport high-voltage electricity across the Pacific Northwest. This talk is free and open to the public. No reservations required.
The HVDC Test Center existed from 1963 to 2017 and was the first facility of its kind in the United States. The Center was established to use emerging industry knowledge on conversion between alternating current and direct current. This conversion technology could enable stable long-distance electricity transmission that moved as a high voltage, direct current before it was converted to a lower voltage, alternating current when it reached the end-user home or business.
To get to the Washington Shore Visitor Center, travel on Washington State Route 14 to milepost 38.5, then turn onto Dam Access Road about one mile west of the dam or three miles west of the Bridge of the Gods. Follow the signs to the visitor center. Learn more about Bonneville Dam here: https://www.nwp.usace.army.mil/bonneville/.
Background on Libby Burke: Libby Burke is the archivist at the Bonneville Power Administration Library, where she has curated two popular BPA film collections and is working on a third. She presently oversees the digitization of Library’s the BPA document archives, which includes everything written by, for or about BPA—this five-year project is nearing completion. She also specializes in public programs on aspects of BPA history, including BPA and World War II, Woody Guthrie’s Columbia River Songs, and the artists who created BPA’s message.