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Cheoah
The Cheoah Development is located in Graham and Swain counties, North Carolina on the Little Tennessee River between river miles 51 and 52. The Cheoah Development was the first of the Tapoco developments constructed and was completed in 1919. The Cheoah Development consists of a dam and powerhouse. Cheoah Dam impounds a Cheoah Reservoir that has a normal full pool area of approximately 644 acres and a drainage area of 1,608 square miles. The normal full pool elevation of Cheoah Reservoir is 1276.8 feet (USGS).
The Cheoah powerhouse is located immediately downstream of the intake section on the left bank, parallel to the Little Tennessee River. The powerhouse contains five vertical Francis turbines directly connected to generators. Four of the units (Unit Nos. 1, 2, 3 and 4) are original to the powerhouse. The fifth unit (Unit No. 5) was added in 1949 and is independent of the other four. The current licensed capacity of the five units is 144.7 MW and the total station hydraulic capacity is 9,436 cfs. Water for Cheoah Units 1-4 is withdrawn through an intake located in rock at the left abutment of the dam, at a centerline depth of 46.5 feet below the normal full pool elevation of the reservoir. The intake for Unit 5 is located in a converted spillway gate opening at the left end of the spill section at a centerline depth of 12.5 feet.
Cheoah, like Calderwood and Chilhowee, is operated in a run-of-river mode following the daily-cycle, peaking operations of the Tennessee Valley Authority’s (TVA) Fontana Dam located upstream of Cheoah. Fontana serves as the primary flow control facility for the lower Little Tennessee River and TVA assists Tapoco in determining the daily operation of the Tapoco developments to best match expected flow releases from Fontana. Because of its limited storage capacity, Cheoah is operated with minimal fluctuations in water levels. Cheoah Reservoir is operated with daily pondage and with a maximum drawdown of seven feet. There is no seasonal drawdown.
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