U.S. Department of Energy Secretary Steven Chu today announced up to $32 million in Recovery Act funding to modernize the existing hydropower infrastructure in the U.S., increase efficiency, and reduce environmental impact. Today’s announcement is designed to support the deployment of turbines and control technologies to increase power generation and environmental stewardship at existing non-federal hydroelectric facilities.
“There’s no one solution to the energy crisis, but hydropower is clearly part of the solution and represents a major opportunity to create more clean energy jobs,” said Secretary Chu. “Investing in our existing hydropower infrastructure will strengthen our economy, reduce pollution and help us toward energy independence.”
Secretary Chu also noted another key benefit of hydropower: potential hydro energy can be stored behind dams and released when it is most needed. Therefore, improving our hydro infrastructure can help to increase the utilization and economic viability of intermittent renewable energy sources like wind and solar power. Secretary Chu is committed to further developing pumped storage technology to harness these advantages.
Today’s funding opportunity announcement under the Recovery Act will be competitively awarded to a variety of non-federal hydropower projects that can be developed without significant modifications to dams and with a minimum of regulatory delay.
Projects will be selected in two areas:
- Deployment of Hydropower Upgrades at Projects >50 MW: These include projects at large, non-federal facilities (greater than 50 MW capacity) with existing or advanced technologies that will enable improved environmental performance and significant new generation.
- Deployment of Hydropower Upgrades at Projects < 50 MW: These include projects at small-scale non-federal facilities (less than 50 MWs) with existing or advanced technologies that will enable improved environmental performance and significant new generation.
Today, there are more than 1,300 state-regulated dams in Virginia, but most of these dams are small and located on private property. This number does not include larger federal dams such as the TVA projects or the John H. Kerr and Philpott dams, both administered by the Southeastern Power Administration.
The John H. Kerr Dam is located on the Roanoke River about eighteen miles upstream from the Virginia-North Carolina State line in Mecklenburg County and was built in the early 1950s. The Philpott Dam was finalized in 1952, and is located on the Smith River about seven miles upstream from Bassett, Virginia. The Philpott Lake covers area in Henry, Patrick and Franklin counties. Both use turbines to transform their impounded water into electrical power.
According to Virginia’s Dams: A Status Report [PDF], issued by the Department of Conservation and Recreation in 2006, dams typically are designed for fifty (fifty) years of useful life. This statement creates an issue for both the John H. Kerr Dam and the Philpott Dam, as both constructions were created over fifty years ago.
Virginia’s regulated dams fall into four categories based upon their threat to surrounding communities should they fail:
- Class I: Probable loss of life and excessive economic loss downstream;
- Class II: Possible loss of life and appreciable economic loss;
- Class III: No loss of life expected and minimal economic loss;
- Class IV, No economic loss to others and no loss of life expected.
Natural Resources Conservation Service, a division of the U.S. Government, issued a report [PDF] in 1999 that called for approximately $10 million for dam rehabilitation in Virginia. In 2002, U.S. Water News Online reported that about “40 of the 500 state-regulated dams in Virginia need repairs, which could total $20 to $40 million.” The Department of Conservation and Recreation report noted above stated that about 80 percent of Virginia’s dams had non-working valves.
While many of these issues have been addressed with interim legislation, the message continues that dams over age fifty require more maintenance and oversight to correct age-related problems. This opportunity offers the money to create a safer hydro-power environment for Virginia’s citizens, especially those who live within a Class I or Class II danger environment.
For information about dam locations throughout Virginia, visit Lat-Long.com. For information about floodplain management, visit the Department of Conservation and Recreation.
Letters of intent for monies to repair dams are due July 22, 2009, and completed applications are due August 20, 2009. The complete Funding Opportunity Announcement, number DE-FOA-0000120, can be viewed on the Grants.gov Web site. Projects are expected to begin in fiscal year 2010.
Hello RAMC – It would be helpful, in the future, if you included links so others could learn more about your side of the story. I do appreciate your knowledge and comments, but would like some backup information to learn more.
If you want to debunk the 50-year “myth,” then I suggest you head to the source of that information and ask them to retract their statements. That would be the Department of Conservation and Recreation – http://www.mass.gov/dcr/, an organization that made that statement in 2006, just three years ago, in the report linked in the story above.
This article perpetuates the 50-year life-of-dams myth. It would be useful if you would at least look at the statistics on the 84,000 dams that are listed in the National Inventory of Dam (U.S. Corps of Engineers). The average age of dams in the U.S. exceeds 50 years. Only about 3 % of those dams are utilized for hydropower and the remaining dams have a huge potential for adding hydropower which would far exceed wind and solar power potential and would be far less costly. The misguided environmental movement has been the main impediment to more hydro development because they also perpetuate a myth that hydropower at existing dams cannot be developed and be environmentally friendly. As far as age is concerned, many hydro projects and the dams that provide that power are 75 years and older and some are over 100 years old. Many are still using the original generating equipment. Interestingly, the first hydro project built in 1872 by Thomas Edison located in Wisconsin is still operating. So much for the 50-year myth.