Western Area Power Administration

As one of the four power marketing administrations within the U.S. Department of Energy, the Western Area Power Administration (WAPA)'s role is to market wholesale hydropower generated at 57 hydroelectric federal dams operated by the Bureau of Reclamation, United States Army Corps of Engineers and the International Boundary and Water Commission.

[1] Under the statute, WAPA assumed power marketing responsibilities and ownership, operation and maintenance of the federal transmission system from the Bureau of Reclamation.

WAPA also formerly marketed the United States’ 547-megawatt entitlement from the coal-fired Navajo Generating Station near Page, Arizona until its closure on 18 November 2019.

Hydropower is considered a byproduct of the federal dams whose primary purpose is to store water for irrigation and to provide navigation and flood control.

Before hydropower, multiple other uses were adopted for federal dams, including municipal and industrial water needs, recreation, salinity control and fish and wildlife.

WAPA personnel both maintain this system and operate balancing authorities, ensuring energy supply matches demand 24 hours a day.

[7][8] Various laws, including the Reclamation Project Act of 1939,[9] require WAPA to give preference to certain types of non-profit organizations seeking to purchase Federal power.

WAPA employees conduct power sales, transmission operations and maintenance and engineering services at 51 duty stations organized under four regions, a management center and headquarters.

The regions and management centers oversee the power and transmission contracts, operations and maintenance while centralized functions, such as finance, information technology, safety and security, are handled by headquarters.