Fifty years ago last Friday, Oklahoma Gas and Electric (OG&E) officially fired up its Seminole Power Plant, which is located on the shores of Konawa Lake.

Groundbreaking for the monolithic structure and the accompanying 1,350-acre reservoir was held in May of 1968 and three years later, the plant went online. At that time, the plant was the most powerful of its kind in Oklahoma. By 1975 a third power unit had been built, boasting an output of more than 1.6 million kilowatts. The original project cost $40 million.

Konawa Lake quickly became renowned as a great place to fish. In 2003, the lake ranked first among Oklahoma Lakes larger than 1,000 acres in the production of Largemouth Bass. Other species of fish that inhabit the lake include Channel Catfish, Flathead Catfish, Hybrid Striped Bass, Sunfish and White Bass.

Because the lake supplies cooling water for the gas-fired electric power generation plant, its waters are much warmer than most lakes.

“I remember all of the fishermen my folks knew being excited to fish the new lake during the winter because of the warm water,” said Seminole County resident Sharon Cunningham.

Seminole Native Patrick Elifritz recalls actually taking a swim in Konawa Lake during the winter months.

“Several of my friends and I worked the 3-11 shift at Wrangler when we were in high school,” Elifritz said. “When we discovered the water temperature at Konawa was better than bathtub warm, we began making that our go-to place for after hours entertainment. Even in January, swimming was tolerable.”

The lake has a shoreline of 20 miles, an average depth of 17 feet and a maximum depth of 49.8 feet. Its pool surface elevation is 924 feet above mean sea level. The lake level is maintained by pumping water from the South Canadian River as needed.

The plant has three steam-driven turbine generators and a gas turbine with a combined capacity of 1,534 megawatts. When the three main steam-driven generators are on-line, the plant must circulate a million gallons of water per minute through its exhaust steam condensers.