Fort Loudoun Dam

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Fort Loudoun Dam
Fort Loudoun Dam
Location of Fort Loudoun Dam in Tennessee
Official name	Fort Loudoun Dam
Location	Loudon County, Tennessee, United States
Coordinates	35°47′27.27″N 84°14′33.54″W / 35.7909083°N 84.2426500°W / 35.7909083; -84.2426500
Purpose	Navigation, flood control, electricity
Construction began	July 8, 1940
Opening date	August 2, 1943
Operator(s)	Tennessee Valley Authority
Dam and spillways
Impounds	Tennessee River
Height	122 ft (37 m)
Length	4,190 ft (1,280 m)
Reservoir
Creates	Fort Loudoun Lake
Power Station
Commission date	1943-1948
Turbines	1 x 36 MW, 2 x 34 MW, 1 x 40 MW propeller
Installed capacity	144 MW[1]

Fort Loudoun Dam is a hydroelectric dam on the Tennessee River in Loudon County, Tennessee, in the southeastern United States. The dam is operated by the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), which built the dam in the early 1940s as part of a unified plan to provide electricity and flood control in the Tennessee Valley and create a continuous 652-mile (1,049 km) navigable river channel from Knoxville, Tennessee to Paducah, Kentucky. It is the uppermost of nine TVA dams on the Tennessee River.^[2]

The dam impounds the 14,600-acre (5,900 ha) Fort Loudoun Lake and its tailwaters are part of Watts Bar Lake. The generating capacity of Fort Loudoun Dam is enhanced by the Tellico Reservoir, from which water is diverted via canal to Fort Loudoun Lake. It and associated infrastructure were listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2017.

Fort Loudoun Dam is named after Fort Loudoun, an 18th-century British colonial fort built during the French and Indian War. The fort— which was located about 10 miles (16 km) south of the dam site— was named for John Campbell, 4th Earl of Loudoun, commander of British forces in North America during this period.^[3]