ROANOKE, Va., December 12, 2014 – Appalachian Power has officially opened its Oak Grove Public Boating Access Facility that will serve visitors on the company’s Smith Mountain Lake. The 10-acre, $1-million public area is centrally-located near Hales Ford Bridge in Franklin County.

The handicap-accessible facility includes a double-sized boat launching ramp, a large fishing pier, more than 60 parking spaces, public restrooms, and “dark skies” lighting. It is available to visitors at no charge.

Oak Grove was dedicated today in a short ceremony hosted by Appalachian Power officials and attended by representatives of state agencies, Franklin County, the Smith Mountain Lake Regional Chamber of Commerce, and neighboring residents.

It will be operated by the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries. Oak Grove is the latest of nine public access facilities created by Appalachian Power on Smith Mountain and Leesville Lakes, both part of the Smith Mountain hydroelectric project.

To access the Oak Grove facility from Route 122, visitors can take Merriman Road (Route 666) to Oldfield Road (Route 978) and follow it to Oak Grove Drive (Route 1230).

Smith Mountain Project is a 636-megawatt pumped storage hydroelectric facility that utilizes an upper reservoir (Smith Mountain Lake) and a lower reservoir (Leesville Lake).  Water stored in Smith Mountain Lake first passes through turbine-generators in the powerhouse to produce electricity and is discharged into Leesville Lake.  Most of the water is retained in Leesville Lake and pumped back into the Smith Mountain Lake for re-use.  A portion of the water goes through the turbine-generators at the Leesville powerhouse to generate additional electricity and to meet the minimum discharge requirements of the project's operating license.

Appalachian Power has 1 million customers in Virginia, West Virginia and Tennessee  (as AEP Appalachian Power). It is a unit of American Electric Power, one of the largest electric utilities in the United States, which delivers electricity to more than 5 million customers in 11 states. AEP ranks among the nation’s largest generators of electricity, owning nearly 38,000 megawatts of generating capacity in the U.S. AEP also owns the nation’s largest electricity transmission system, a nearly 39,000-mile network that includes more 765 kilovolt extra-high voltage transmission lines than all other U.S. transmission systems combined. 

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