Regional hydropower plants move forward

Quincy Hydropower Project advances renewable energy on the Mississippi River with fish-friendly turbines at Lock and Dam 21, 24, and 25, pursuing a FERC license, power purchase agreement, Section 1603 grant, and local manufacturing.

Plans to produce electricity at three area Mississippi River locks have been put on a fast track.

The board of the Mississippi River Number 21 Hydropower Company met in Quincy to get a progress report and discuss its next steps, at a time when rivers look attractive for energy nationwide.

The plan calls for installing power-producing, environmentally friendly turbines at Lock and Dam 21 at Quincy, Lock and Dam 24 at Clarksville and Lock and Dam 25 at Winfield.

The city and its investors would sell the electricity to a utility, which would then distribute it to customers.

A license application will be submitted to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission for the priority site, Lock 21.

If all falls into place, the Quincy turbines could be churning by January 1, 2014, with the Clarksville site going on line by 2016 and the Winfield facility operational two years later.

“It’s the future of this area,” said Quincy Mayor John Spring, hydropower company president. “It changes our dependency on foreign oil and reduces fossil fuel usage.”

“This is a way to capture the energy that’s at our doorstep and reduce our carbon footprint, a case that has drawn public support at similar unveilings,” added Quincy City Planner Chuck Bevelheimer. “Providing a revenue stream for the city is another result.”

An environmental study will soon be done and testing on the impact to river navigation using a scale model of the giant generators will be done in May.

The next big steps are to find investors, or equity partners as the company calls them, and to work out a long-term power purchase agreement with a utility, even as other cities like Billings look at biomass facilities as alternatives.

A final license application would be made in July, about 15 months ahead of schedule. The process is expected to cost $10.9 million. The city already has pledged $6.6 million in short-term bonds. The rest would come from grants.

The city is seeking federal funding that could allow construction of the turbines to be done locally rather than in Canada, where Hydro-Québec bidders were recently selected for major contracts.

Estimated construction costs are $86 million at Quincy, $130 million at Clarksville and $90 million at Winfield. Clarksville’s cost is higher because its plant would include more turbines and produce more electricity.

The city hopes to get a federal Section 1603 grant to pay for 30 percent of building costs at Lock 21. Similar funding could be sought at the other two sites.

The turbines would be placed on the opposite side of the river from lock chambers, meaning they would be on the Missouri bank at Quincy and the Illinois shore at Clarksville and Winfield. The city would work with levee districts on access.

The Quincy and Winfield plants could put out almost enough electricity to power a city of 40,000 people. The Clarksville site would have double that capacity. Estimated cost of production ranges from 5.1 cents per kilowatt hour at Clarksville and Quincy to 6.4 cents per kilowatt hour at Winfield.

The generators would be protected from ice and river debris, and be “fish friendly,” said project engineer Mike Klingner.

Quincy has the exclusive right to pursue construction at the three sites. Originally, it considered similar projects at Canton and Saverton, even as other communities consider reviving dams to supply power elsewhere, but found the locations weren’t feasible.

Two other applicants have sought federal permission to pursue hydropower at Saverton, but Quincy has objected, similar to objections to river turbines seen on the Ohio River, saying the requests lack proper technical data or design specifications.

Spring said the city has received inquires from both private and public entities about joining the hydropower firm as an equity partner, and welcomes additional requests.

Klingner said investors are recommended for Quincy and Clarksville, and will be essential for Winfield, much as efforts to revive the Whitefish hydropower plant have required. He said the project is at a critical stage.

“There are a lot of decisions that need to be made quickly in the next few months,” Klingner said.

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