Plan for dams put on faster track

July 31, 2008

By Edward Husar

Quincy's efforts to secure a license to build three hydroelectric plants on the Mississippi River has passed a major hurdle.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission last week completed its review of Quincy's pre-application documents and authorized the city to proceed with a traditional licensing process.

The authorization "is an important step" for the project, said Mike Klingner, president of Klingner and Associates of Quincy, one of the engineering firms designing plans to install hydroelectric plants at Lock and Dam 20 in Canton, Mo., Lock and Dam 21 in Quincy and Lock and Dam 22 in Saverton, Mo.

Klingner said being able to follow a traditional licensing process means Quincy's application can move along faster and at less cost.

"You don't have to go through so many extra hoops," Klingner said. "It's a little more streamlined, a little faster. And we got the approval faster than we were anticipating."

FERC is now requiring the city to schedule site visits to all three dams -- along with a joint meeting -- for various federal, state and local governmental entities with a stake in the projects. Klingner said the site visits have been tentatively scheduled for Sept. 9, and the joint meeting is slated for Sept. 10.

"We will be issuing a public notice of the meetings within the next 30 days," Klingner said.

Mayor John Spring said FERC's approval of a traditional licensing process is good news for Quincy because it means one less roadblock in the city's efforts to tap into a new source of electricity by harnessing the natural power of the Mississippi River.

"I think it's wonderful that we're getting the green light from FERC to move forward with our project," Spring said. "We're just so happy that we're staying right on course, right on schedule, as we continue to be proactive in trying to find an alternative source of energy for this region."

The upcoming site visits will let representatives of governmental agencies see firsthand where the hydroelectric facilities would be located. The agencies could then request studies to address any concerns they might have, including environmental issues.

Klingner said the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the Illinois Department of Natural Resources, the Missouri Department of Natural Resources and the Environmental Protection Agencies from both states will be among the agencies invited.

Plans call for installing 40 500-kilowatt generators at Canton -- enough to produce 20 megawatts of power -- and 30 of those size generators at both Quincy and Saverton, which would enable each site to produce up to 15 megawatts.

Combined, the three plants would be able to produce up to 50 megawatts at maximum capacity. But because hydro plants don't always operate at maximum because of fluctuations in water levels, the three sites are expected to produce an average power output of 19 megawatts.

That's equivalent to the amount of electricity consumed on a regular basis by all 12,000 residential households in Quincy (about 14.5 megawatts), plus the city of Quincy's wastewater treatment plant and the water filtration plant (about 4 megawatts).

Klingner said Quincy's pre-application documents were built around expectations the city likely will use some new hydropower-generating technology being developed in France and Canada for "very low head" dams, such as those on the Mississippi River.

"Head" refers to the drop in elevation from the upper pool above a dam to the lower pool below the dam. The elevation drop is much more pronounced at the Quincy and Saverton dams, and not as pronounced at Canton, which is why additional turbines would be located there to make the project more cost-effective.

Last week, Claude O'Neil, president of Novatech-Lowatt Turbines Inc. of Otteburn-Park, Quebec, which makes the new type of turbines, visited all three locks and dams with design team members from Klingner and Associates and the Mead & amp; Hunt engineering firm of Madison, Wis. They wanted to see if the company's turbines would be a good fit for Quincy's project.

Klingner said "it looks very positive" that the city should be able to use the new turbines, which have the added benefit of being less harmful to fish than traditional hydropower turbines.

If everything goes as planned, the hydropower facilities could be operational by late 2015 or early 2016 at a cost of about $200 million.

Spring said the city will be seeking federal and state appropriations to help pay for engineering studies over the next four years leading up to the issuance of licenses, but not for the construction or operation of the hydropower plants. The city would handle those costs on its own, likely with revenue bonds financed by the sale of electricity.