Balancing Power and Fish at Roanoke Rapids Dam

At the Roanoke Rapids Dam in North Carolina, NOAA Fisheries and Dominion Energy have found a way to keep the lights on without shortchanging the river’s fish and mussels.

Like many hydroelectric dams, Roanoke Rapids diverts most of its water through a powerhouse channel, leaving a stretch of the natural riverbed — the “bypassed reach” — with reduced flow. That can degrade habitat for fish and other aquatic life downstream.

When the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission relicensed the dam in 2004, NOAA Fisheries worked with Dominion Energy and other agencies to test three water-flow levels — low, medium, and high — designed to keep the bypassed reach habitable for American shad and other migratory species.

Surveys conducted in 2024 and 2025 delivered a clear answer: American shad, eel, and mussel populations rebounded under medium and high flows compared to low flow, but medium and high performed about the same. That meant Dominion Energy could shift more water to power generation without harming wildlife.

As a result, Dominion Energy will run the medium flow pattern for the remaining 18 years of its license — generating more electricity during peak demand while still protecting migratory fish and mussels during key points in their life cycles.

The outcome, NOAA Fisheries says, is a win-win: close coordination between industry and resource agencies that balances energy production with a healthy river ecosystem.

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Wayne Creed

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