| Exploring hydropower at the Coon Rapids Dam |
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| Wednesday, 07 October 2009 | ||
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Managing editor Renewed efforts are being made to explore whether the Coon Rapids Dam can once again be used to generate electricity.
Ownership of the land and dam was transferred by NSP to the Hennepin County Park Reserve District (now Three Rivers Park District) in September 1969 and in the late 1970s, the Coon Rapids Dam Regional Park became a reality. While the Three Rivers Park District operates the regional park on the Hennepin County side of the Mississippi River, Anoka County has jurisdiction of the park on the Coon Rapids side of the river. But Three Rivers Park District has maintained ownership of the dam and has been responsible for its repairs and maintenance costs via Hennepin County taxpayers. Over the years, studies have been undertaken from time to time to look at whether it would be feasible to return the dam to hydroelectric use, but not to the point of a project being submitted for approval to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). Now, two competing applications for preliminary permits have been submitted to the FERC to study the feasibility of a hydroelectric power project at the dam. One is from Three Rivers Park District and the other is from BOSTI Hydroelectric LLC, Golden Valley. According to Margaret Walz, Three Rivers Park District associate superintendent for parks and recreation resources, the Three Rivers Park District application is, in essence, seeking an extension to the FERC permit it received in 2006 but which has now expired. There is no timeline for the FERC to decide which of the two applications to approve, Walz said. Both proposals would use the existing 1,455-foot-long, 30.8-foot high Coon Rapids Dam. Three Rivers Park District proposes to build a powerhouse containing two generating units with a total installed capacity of 7.2 MW (megawatts). The powerhouse would be built on the Hennepin County side of the dam and be an unobstrusive as possible, Walz said. Three River Park District also proposes a 600-foot long, 4.16 kilovolt transmission line with the project producing an average annual generation of 44.26 gigawatt-hours, which would be sold to Xcel Energy. The BOSTI permit application proposes a powerhouse with two generating units with a capacity of 8 MW plus a 200-foot long 4.16 kilovolt transmission line. According to the BOSTI submission to the FERC, its proposal would produce an annual generation of 45 gigawatt hours, again to be sold to Xcel Energy. State Rep. Jerry Newton, DFL-Andover/Coon Rapids, is also interested in exploring the potential of hydropower at the dam. According to Newton, when the Minnesota Legislature approved funding for major structural repairs to the dam in the mid-1990s, the legislation contained language that the dam be able to generate hydropower in the future. Newton appeared at a Coon Rapids City Council work session last week to discuss the dam. He told the council that he was interested in exploring state legislation that could financially assist a hydropower economic model at the dam. Walz was also at the meeting and presented information to the council that estimated the cost to build a hydroplant, including turbines, would be in the $28 million to $30 million range. She also had estimates on annual energy production and gross revenues using both a year-round summer elevation model and one with the lower winter elevation. According to Walz, the Three Rivers Park District is not interested in building or operating a hydroplant at the dam because it is in the business of parks and recreation. The park district’s goal is to transfer all responsibilities of the dam to another party, preferably in the public sector, Walz said. Both Walz and Newton said public sector ownership would allow control to remain over the dam and the six-mile recreational pool above the dam. “If the dam was in private ownership, residents would have no say on what happened to the pool,” Newton said. It was the impact of a potential hydropower plant on the residents living on the river in the six-mile pool that concerned Councilmember Joe Sidoti, who, himself, lives on the river in the pool area. He spoke of the ice jam that occurred in 1997 and said that many property owners had constructed shoreline improvements that could be impacted if future ice problems occurred due to high water elevations needed for hydropower. But Newton said that a successful hydropower plant would not necessarily mean that the pool area would have to remain at its normal summer level, which is several feet higher than during the winter months. The drawdown takes place in October. While Councilmember Bruce Sanders supported consideration of hydro use at the dam as a sustainable resource, Mayor Tim Howe said there were many unknowns about how implementation of hydropower would impact the upstream recreational pool and the financial impact of a hydro project. Howe asked Newton if he would try and secure state funding for the study needed to address those questions. Newton said he was willing to take the lead on this effort and the council reached a consensus on this approach. In an interview this week, Newton said he had met with Tom Hanson, Minnesota Management and Budget commissioner, Friday and together they toured the dam. Newton will work to request funding for this council-requested study in the 2010 state bonding bill, but there are limited dollars available, he said. And if a hydropower project was proposed at the dam, then a combination of state bonding money and funding from a power company, which has to meet state-mandated renewable energy standards by 2020, might be the best answer to pay the cost, Newton said. According to Newton, there has been interest from two state agencies in using hydropower from the dam to help meet its electricity needs. And he believes that hydropower from the dam could offset local property tax-supported electricity costs in the future, Newton said. For example, Coon Rapids spends $700,000 a year in property tax dollars on its street lights. With the cost of electricity expected to increase significantly in the next few years, Newton said hydropower at the dam could well become economically feasible. “We have reached the point that in the near future, hydropower at the dam could be very viable,” he said. “We can do this the right way to prevent anything from happening {that would be detrimental to the regional park and the recreation pool}.” Peter Bodley is at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it |
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