
Today’s picture comes from contributor Adam, who offers us this shot of the Conowingo Dam. While the Dam is certainly a big factor in the Maryland landscape, it was built by a Philadelphia Company. In fact, it is a hydroelectric generating facility and the dam was built in 1928 by the Philadelphia Electric Co.
It’s seven original turbines, combined with four newer ones, produce over 500 megawatts of electricity, making it a very sizable generation facility with an ability, at peak flows, to generate 50% to 75% of the power that a 1970’s nuclear reactor could produce. The dam also creates the Conowingo Reservoir, which is the cooling pond for a nuclear power plant further upstream.
The dam iteself serves as the Susquehanna crossing for US-1, which is where this photo was taken.
Also for MDP reference, here’s a shot of the susquehanna further downstream.