Idaho Power owns and operates 17 hydropower projects on the Snake River and its tributaries. The largest hydropower project, the Hells Canyon Complex, makes up nearly two-thirds of the company's hydro generating capacity.

The complex is located on the Snake River in picturesque Hells Canyon. By many accounts Hells Canyon is considered to be the deepest river gorge on the North American continent. So how deep is deep? Nearby He Devil Mountain is 9,393 feet above sea level. The canyon plunges 7,913 feet, 1.5 miles from its summit to the mouth of Granite Creek, 6 miles away at 1,480 feet above sea level.

The canyon divides Oregon from Idaho and runs generally from 90 miles south of Lewiston, Idaho, and extends 40 miles further south to a point near Oxbow, Ore.

Hells Canyon Complex includes Brownlee, Oxbow and Hells Canyon projects, reservoirs, and power plants, all of which are operated under the same license granted by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, or FERC. This license expires July 2005. Idaho Power filed the final license application for the Hells Canyon Complex on July 21, 2003.

To learn more about this relicensing effort, or about the details, history, status and operations for each plant within the Complex, see the links at left. For facts about just the Complex, click here.