Since 1971, Lake Keowee’s 18,500 acres of water and 300 miles of shoreline have been a valuable source of energy, water and recreation in South Carolina’s Upstate.
Keowee was the first lake developed as part of Duke Energy’s Keowee-Toxaway Complex. which includes the Oconee Nuclear Station and the Keowee, Jocassee and Bad Creek hydroelectric stations. Full-pond elevation at Lake Keowee is 800 feet.
Keowee impounds water from the Keowee River and the Little River. The water helps cool Duke Energy’s three nuclear reactors at the Oconee Nuclear Station. In addition, the force of falling water helps generate hydroelectric power.
The name Keowee is Cherokee, roughly translated as “place of the mullberries.” The Keowee River had been part of the Cherokee Lower Towns region, where Keowee Town was once located.
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