Local Lock-and-Dam Sites Eyed for Hydroelectric Generators
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
24 December 2011
By Andrew Conte
An Illinois-based energy company wants to install a new breed of
hydroelectric generators at four nearby lock-and-dam sites in the
next two years that could crank out enough electricity to power
nearly 30,000 homes.
Hydro Green Energy LLC filed plans this week to install the first
set of hydroelectric turbines on the Braddock Locks & Dam on
the Monongahela River.
The smallest of the proposed local projects, it could produce
enough energy for 2,240 homes while having little impact on the
environment and no effect on river navigation, spokesman Mark
Stover said.
"Every single day, water is flowing through the gates," Stover
said. "When you see that rolling, turbulent water going by, that
is wasted renewable energy."
Early next year, the company plans to file proposals for similar
projects on the Allegheny River near Oakmont, on the Monongahela
River near Morgantown, W.Va., and on the Ohio River between New
Cumberland, W.Va., and Stratton, Ohio, Stover said.
Nationwide, Hydro Green is developing 28 projects in 14 states. As
an independent energy producer, the company sells electricity to
utility companies.
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission received the Braddock
application on Thursday, spokeswoman Tamara Young-Allen said. The
agency will conduct an environmental review and seek public
comment before issuing a final recommendation to its five-member
board for consideration. That process could take 12 to 18 months,
she said.
The Army Corps of Engineers, which operates the dams, also must
determine the project will have no more than a negligible impact
on the environment, lock operations and the physical structure of
the dam, said spokesman Jeff Hawk.
Many of the corps' locks and dams need costly repairs, Hawk said.
If the power plant sits on the corps' property, the agency could
collect lease fees. The corps also has started looking at in-kind
contracts to receive free or low-cost electricity from turbines
attached to its facilities, an official said.
Hydro Green has developed a new, more efficient technology that
makes it profitable to get energy from "low-head" dams in which
the water drops less than 30 feet, Stover said. The company's
design includes a modular steel frame with embedded turbines that
attaches to the dam, but the details are so secret, the company
declined to provide drawings of how the system works as it awaits
approval from the U.S. Patent Office.
The company first used the technology in 2009 at a Minnesota plant
that draws energy from natural river flow. The Braddock facility
would be the company's first electricity generator at a dam. Hydro
Green chose the Braddock site based on the dam infrastructure, its
12-foot water drop and the river flow.
The Department of Energy gave Hydro Green two grants worth $1.8
million this year to develop its turbine technology and help with
installation at the Braddock site, Stover said.
Because it relies on existing structures and the corps-controlled
flow of the river, the proposed generator has a low environmental
impact, Stover said.
"You're not running the river hard," he said. "You're just working
with the natural flow of the river."
Hydroelectric power often gets overlooked in Western Pennsylvania,
said Lindsay Baxter, project manager for the Pennsylvania
Environmental Council, which supports the proposal in general. The
nonprofit would be less likely to support a project that required
building a dam.
"Pennsylvania has a lot of untapped potential for
hydroelectricity," Baxter said. "It's a really clean energy
source."
Hydroelectric power could be a way to produce clean energy as long
as federal agencies make sure the turbines do not have significant
impact on water flow or aquatic life, said Myron Arnowitt,
Pennsylvania state director for Clean Water Action.
"There probably are going to be some issues," he said, "but the
basic concept has some value."
Four companies operate hydroelectric power plants on the Allegheny
River -- all larger than the one proposed for Braddock, according
to the corps' records.
Hydro Green expects to have a capacity of 3.75 megawatts of power
at Braddock.
By comparison, FirstEnergy Corp. has more than 100 times as much
capacity at 451.8 megawatts at the Kinzua Dam on the Allegheny
River. Another FirstEnergy power plant at Lock & Dam No. 6 on
the Allegheny near Freeport has a capacity of 8.56 megawatts.
Andrew Conte can be reached at andrewconte@tribweb.com or
412-320-7835.