Bad Creek & Jocasse

The skies over Jocasse Lake

Dad spent much of the week in South Carolina at business meetings. He toured Jocasse and Bad Creek hydro-electric plants while he was there. Jocasse is over 7,000 acres and is mostly undeveloped with hills/mountains rising up from its banks. Bad Creek is a 360 foot-deep reservoir up in the mountains that drains only two square miles of mountain side. The water is pumped up to it from Jocasse Lake and then it is used to generate electricity when it goes back down. The strange thing is that it uses more electricity than it makes, but with market prices and since it runs in the day and pumps at night, it makes a lot of money.

The view from the top of Jocasse Dam - those are cars down there

The lunchroom at Bad Creek Station - it is 500 feet underground and those are granite walls