Some Dam – Hydro Newstm I and Other Stuff
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7/01/2011 Some Dam – Hydro NewsTM i And Other Stuff Quote of Note: “What other people think of you is none of your business.” - - Regina Brett “Good wine is a necessity of life.” - -Thomas Jefferson Ron’s wine pick of the week: Mirabile Syrah 2006 - Sicily, Italy “No nation was ever drunk when wine was cheap.” - - Thomas Jefferson Dams: (They celebrate and then move on to the next big one – removal of the 4 Snake River Dams) Rocky Barker: Dam removal movement marches to Pacific Idaho Statesman.com, 06/20/11 In September, river advocates will be holding a celebration like none seen since 1999. That was the year the Edwards Dam was removed, allowing the Kennebec River in Maine to flow free for the first time since Nathaniel Hawthorne walked its banks 160 years before. The celebration will note the removal of the Elwha and Glines dams in Washington’s Olympic peninsula. The Elwha dams are bigger and have been authorized for removal for far longer. Their removal in many ways marks the maturation of the river restoration movement that got its start when a bipartisan coalition sought to set the Kennebec River free. More than 400 dams have been removed since the Swan Falls-sized Edwards Dam came down, restoring the health of 17 miles of river. The 210-foot-high Glines Dam will be the largest to come down and that contributes to the symbolic power of the act. In October, the Condit Dam on the White Salmon River, a tributary of the Columbia, will be blasted open. It will join the Marmot Dam on the Sandy River, and the Gold Hill, Savage Rapids, and Gold Ray Dams on the Rogue River that have come down to aid Pacific salmon. But the real story of these events is how long it takes to get the consensus necessary to carry through such a dramatic shift in policy. In 1997, the same year the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission approved removal of the Edwards Dam, the Idaho Statesman’s editorial board called for breaching of the four federal dams In 1997, the same year the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission approved removal of the Edwards Dam, the Idaho Statesman’s editorial board called for breaching of the four federal dams on the lower Snake River in Washington to save salmon and protect Idaho water. Only two 1 Copy obtained from the National Performance of Dams Program: http://npdp.stanford.edu years later, Edwards Dam crumbled, but the Clinton administration chose not to push for breaching the Snake dams. “It’s different out your way — you have to deal with tradeoffs,” said Brooke. “You need to seek balance.” Former Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne knew that when he dove into the polarized battle over the Klamath River in southern Oregon in 2008. He sat down with all sides — farmers, Indians, PacifiCorp, environmental groups and others — to craft a deal to remove four dams to help salmon. But those dams are not slated to come out until 2020, a recognition of their value and the tradeoffs involved. No matter how U.S. District Judge James Redden rules this summer on the lawsuit brought against the federal government on the Columbia and Snake dams, it is unlikely he’s going to order the four dams removed. Even if he could, it would be years before they would come down. Still, the Elwha celebrations this fall will show that the dam-removal movement is going strong with the hope of free-flowing rivers being aided by nature herself, which continues to fill the dam reservoirs with silt. But it also reminds us that the equally optimistic movement that built the dams, and still depends on them for human development, is not going away either. Hydro: (Remember the good old days when someone like this could get a license in 9 months or less with a small cost. U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service can’t stop harassing the little guys. I think the FERC will help this guy - he deserves it! Great looking small dam! Mr. Starrett was on National TV with this one.) Starrett: We’ll finish hydroelectric project Ruling: More regulatory OKs needed By Lisa Eckelbecker, Telegram & Gazette Staff, telegram.com Athol, MA — L.S. Starrett Co. is planning to go ahead with a hydroelectric project on its property that could cut the manufacturer’s carbon footprint, despite a court ruling last week that will require the company to seek additional regulatory approval. “We expect to bring it online,” said President and Chief Executive Douglas A. Starrett. “We just have to do some other compliance issues.” L.S. Starrett, a maker of precision tools and instruments, has spent about $1.5 million in recent years to replace equipment and make facilities improvements to one side of its existing Crescent Street Dam on the Millers River. A 2007 report prepared for the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative indicated the improvements would allow L.S. Starrett to produce 1.8 million kilowatts of power annually to offset the amount of electricity it purchases by about 21 percent. L.S. Starrett began work on the project in 2008 under the belief it did not need licensing from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, but the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service asked energy regulators to investigate the project in 2009. Last week, the First Circuit of the U.S. Court of Appeals affirmed that Starrett must obtain additional approvals. Yet the judges expressed concerns about their ruling. “We do so regretfully because we are not blind to the economic realities of the situation,” Circuit Judge Juan R. Torruella wrote in the opinion. “Under the facts of this case, the FERC could have certainly exercised its administrative discretion.” In a concurring opinion, Senior Circuit Judge Norman H. Stahl wrote, “It would seem that Starrett’s project is a prime example of efficient usage through a nonpolluting power source and is one that we should be encouraging, not stifling.” Mr. Starrett raised the matter in Washington, 2 Copy obtained from the National Performance of Dams Program: http://npdp.stanford.edu D.C., last week with William M. Daley, President Barack Obama’s chief of staff, during a session with the nation’s manufacturing executives. ABC News reported that Mr. Daley said the case sounded like the “typical sort of bureaucratic stuff that’s hard to defend.” L.S. Starrett’s new power generator had been expected to come online this year, but Mr. Starrett said yesterday he was unsure when it will start operating. The company will have to spend money on a bypass to move fish past the dam, and the bill for all remaining work will likely exceed “six figures,” Mr. Starrett said. (Great story even if a bit long, and every hydro buff’s dream. Micro-hydro at its best. 20 kW of independence and ingenuity.) Small-Scale Hydroelectric Plant Promises Profit By Joel Froese, June 21, 2011, sustainableplant.com Micro hydroelectric power is making a comeback in electricity generation for homes, farms and small businesses. This trend is fueled by a number of factors including favorable regulation, rising energy prices and advances in automation—and do-it-yourselfers all over the world are diving in. If there’s access to a stream, the only requirements to generate electricity are a 2 ft. drop in water level and two gallons of flow per minute. A hydroelectric system isn’t overly complicated, it isn’t difficult to operate and maintain, it has longevity and it’s often more cost- effective than any other form of renewable power. Some experts say a successful micro hydroelectric plant will pay for itself in 15 years. At Red Bank Hydro in West Columbia, South Carolina, we implemented our own micro hydro system, Figure 1, and we expect to see a complete return on the investment after only eight years. After that, it will be money in the bank. Although we’d never built such a system before, we were able to do so by using low- cost components and free technical support, both supplied by AutomationDirect (www.automationdirect.com). Building a Hydroelectric Plant In 1980 my father Arno Froese began investigating the potential for generating hydro-electricity on the property he had just purchased. The land is situated near the dam of a 64-acre communal lake, allowing access to the 10 ft. height differential between the lake and the tail water on the other side of the dam. My dad measured the amount of water flowing over the spillway and determined that an average of 40 cubic feet of water per second flowed through the pond, making it a marginally feasible hydroelectric project. However, this dream remained dormant until 2004 when my brother Simon discovered our dad’s research and decided to move forward. On March 4, 2004, Simon began excavation for this project. For two years, the project was a challenging and sometimes disappointing excavation site, as it was necessary to dig 17 feet below lake level for the foundation while groundwater and mud continuously seeped into the hole. By the end of 2006, the underwater portions of the plant had been built, a four-foot aluminum pipe through the back of the dam was in place, the dam was restored, and the temporary cofferdam was removed. On December 2, 2006, a refurbished 50 horsepower Francis turbine was purchased and installed. The turbine was tested and it was determined that the optimal speed would be 150 rpm. The next step was sizing the electrical generation equipment and designing the automation system. This is the point where I became involved in the project.