Oroville >> During the Oroville Dam spillway crisis, the state Department of Water Resources has frequently said the Hyatt Powerplant was releasing flows at maximum capacity, but technically, that’s impossible.

Inside the hydroelectric plant are six turbines, machines that produce power by water flowing through a wheel or motor. And one of those turbines has been out of commission since August 2015.

When asked by this newspaper about DWR’s claim the plant is operating at full capacity, Lauren Bisnett, a department spokeswoman, said the turbine will be reinstalled by December.

According to DWR, it is out of use because of long-term maintenance and repair work involving the “redesign and refurbishment of the turbine and the valve.” She said the unit is completely dewatered and part of it is outside of the powerhouse.

The repairs are part of larger infrastructure improvement plans at the powerhouse, Bisnett said. She said this is the first unit to undergo the redesign, which involves replacing it with a more robust and lower-maintenance model.

This is the first time one of the powerhouse’s turbines has been replaced “since the 2000s” and two more units will undergo the redesign, Bisnett said.

She said the turbine work is unrelated to the incident in 2009, when a steel panel collapsed, resulting in major injuries to one employee and minor injuries to four. The department was found at fault for knowingly putting its employees in danger by a California Division of Occupational Safety and Health investigation.

Requests to DWR to interview an employee who could speak about powerplant operation specifics were not granted Wednesday or Thursday this week. Questions continue to be filtered through a public information officer and responded to via email by a PIO.

The department has said the powerhouse was “fully operational” at different outflows, ranging from about 11,900 cubic-feet per second, or cfs, to 14,000 cfs in recent months. Bisnett said that represents the maximum capacity for the day, taking into account that one turbine is down and other factors, not the true total.

“(The) Hyatt Powerplant does have the capability of reaching a maximum of 17,000 cfs outflow if all units were running, but again, there are factors that influence reaching this outflow, such as lake elevation and tailrace elevation,” she wrote in an email.