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At a retirement party this afternoon I ran into Mitch White a 60ish engineer who owns a small hydropower plant locally (see article below for background) that he is trying to upgrade and sell to a local municipality. We talked for a little and although it would be technically simple to double the plant's current capacity to about 60% of its historical maximum, he is running into permitting problems because there is a possible presence of endangered mussels nearby (not mentioned in the article). Mitch is an experienced civil/environmental engineer, so I think he will be able to get the required studies done within a reasonable budget.

My concern is that the environmental impact study process probably deters a lot of worthwhile small hydropower projects. If he were in a different profession, Mitch and the city probably would have either given up or had their budget busted by a greedy consultant. I'm having trouble seeing how to balance endangered species concerns and the need to reduce greenhouse gasses thru renewable energy sources. Mitch's small hydroplant (about 1/1000 of Hoover Dam) is only a small part of the picture, but nationwide I think there are thousands of historic hydropower sites (think of all the old mills in New England) that could be upgraded for power production but have not partly because of regulatory burdens. Should the regulatory bar be lower for clean energy?


http://www.qctimes.com/articles/2007/07/23/news/local/doc46a431b1d6b08112869135.txt

The City of Rock Island hopes the purchase of a 95-year-old hydropower plant will help save money in the long run by providing power for several city-owned facilities, including City Hall.

The council is expected to vote tonight whether to purchase the Sears Powerhouse from White Hydropower Company and expand the plant’s capacity to 1,200 kilowatts. The plant would then provide two-thirds of the power used to operate five city facilities.

The hydroelectric plant is on the north channel of the Rock River in Rock Island and was constructed in 1912. White Hydropower Co. has used the 600-kilowatt facility since 1985 to sell power to MidAmerican Energy Co. From 1967 to 1985, the plant was not operational.

Assistant City Manager Robert Hawes said the city will sell general obligation bonds and Clean Renewable Energy Bonds to purchase the facility and pay for upgrades at a total cost of $2.2 million. Improvements include installing two 300-kilowatt generators.

The plant will provide 6.5 million kilowatt-hours per year of the 9.8 million needed to power the city’s Mill Street Sewage Treatment Plant, Southwest Sewage Treatment Plant, raw water pumping station, water treatment plant and City Hall.

The remaining power needed will be purchased from MidAmerican, Hawes said.

“In the long run, it saves a lot,” he said of owning the plant.

Hawes said there will be some rehabilitation efforts at the plant, but the standard life of the equipment is 50 to 60 years.

The facility won’t require any full-time workers. Current city utility staff will maintain the plant, Hawes said.

“At the moment, we’re not hiring anyone,” he said.

Community and Economic Development Director Greg Champagne said the city decided to purchase the plant from Mitch and Melba White, owners of the White Hydropower Co., after the couple first approached them to see if the city had any programs that would help improve the plant.

“As we talked through it, somebody came up with the idea for the city to actually purchase the property,” Champagne said.

It’s not unusual for a city to own and operate its own power plant, but Rock Island’s purchase still has some unique qualities.

“It’s maybe a little more unusual for the city to purchase an operating plant,” Champagne said. “I think it makes sense.”

I don't think the bar should be lower as the potential impact would be the same.

If the state had a program to subsidize reduced emissions (ie, train subsidies, hybrids in HOV lanes, etc...), I could see tax breaks or subsidies on operations. That way there would be incentive for clean power but it would protect the environment as well.

Problem is doing this with the current US and IL economy both racing down the toilet.

There is much worse news about hydro although is applies more to large dams instead of the kind taking water at a high point in a creek and returning it at a low point. Looks like they create/release a lot of greenhouse gases. If you look around there are a number of new studies indicating the "non-green-ness" of large scale hydro beyond the possible fish problems we have known, but here is the short version...When a lake exists, like the type created by large dams, the water at the bottom is usually stagnant and the breakdown of animals and plants creates a lot of methane and other undesirable green house gases. Most dams pull their water from the bottom of the lake. That water contains those gases disolved under pressure (ie super saturation), that when they go through the impellars, the cavitation breaks most of those gases loose to escape into the air. When you consider those gases.

There is good news however, as the problem can be solved in two ways. Once, its possible to create a piping system that draws the water from close to the surface. That water won't contain heavy concentration of gases, however it may limit the ability of the dam to produce power when water supplier are low. Perhaps even better, technology has come on market to allow the capture of those gases as the water passes through the dam. Those gases are burnt off which reduces most of their damage and generates additional electricity.