This is a group of 4 dams owned and operated by Alcoa Power Generating Inc., located on the Little Tennessee River in Tennessee and North Carolina, and on the Cheoah River in North Carolina. We bagged Cheoah Dam on the Fontana Dam Quest, and got the rest of them on our Tapoco Dam Quest. We followed up with a second quest after getting permission and an appointment with APGI to get better shots of Calderwood and Santeetlah Dams.

This is Cheoah Dam, on the Little Tennessee River.

A few miles downstream is Calderwood Dam.

A few miles further downstream is Chilhowee Dam.

On the Cheoah River, about nine miles upstream from where it joins the Little Tennessee River just below Cheoah Dam, is Santeetlah Dam.

Together this project can provide up to 326.5 Megawatts to support the Alcoa operation in Alcoa, Tennessee, near Maryville. Annually the contribution averages 1.6 million megawatt hours, about half of the plant's requirements. In the early days, Alcoa actually brought the power generated to the plant on their own transmission lines. Now, APGI delivers the power to TVA's grid, for credit against the total usage at the plant.