"No major protests from environmental groups....
"Water power has been around for centuries, with the Egyptians, Romans, and Greeks all using it." -- Chris Porse, manager of the Holtwood dam
You wonder why we ever got away from it?
"Green energy push will revive century-old Pa. dam" by Tom Pelton, The Baltimore Sun | July 6, 2008
HOLTWOOD, Pa. - Despite the decrepit appearance, a Pennsylvania power company is planning to spend $350 million to build water-powered turbines next to the dam. The first new hydroelectric power plant in the East in 20 years, it would double the dam's electrical output, providing another 100,000 homes with pollution-free electricity, according to the company.
At a time when utilities are looking to generate more power without global-warming pollution, some point to the PPL Corp.'s Holtwood project as a good example of going back to the future.
"Hydropower has been nearly forgotten, but it’s a great source of electricity because it's completely emission-free and combustion-free generation," said Douglas Hall, manager of the water energy program at the US Department of Energy's Idaho National Laboratory.
Increasing the efficiency of old plants can create more juice to meet rising demand, Hall and others say. Power companies are upgrading generators in 23 dams in Idaho, Kentucky, and California, among other places.
Hydroelectric dams were the original source of electricity for many of America's cities a century ago. As late as the 1940s, 40 percent of the electricity in the United States was generated by water pushing wheels and spinning turbines. But the technology was neglected after World War II as coal-burning plants took over the dominant role in generating America's electricity.
"There is growing interest in hydropower, because it is one of the potential solutions to global warming," said Linda Church Ciocci, director of the National Hydropower Association. The proposal has drawn no major protests from environmental groups.
Chris Porse, manager of the Holtwood dam: "Water power has been around for centuries, with the Egyptians, Romans, and Greeks all using it."
An environmental activist who has been studying the project, Michael Helfrich, the Lower Susquehanna river keeper, said that adding turbines could chop up more fish that pass through the dam. But he said adding more hydroelectric generation is a good idea.
He noted that this section of the Susquehanna is already one of the most generating-intensive areas of the world. Two nuclear plants (Three Mile Island and Peach Bottom), four hydroelectric dams, a coal-fired plant, a natural gas plant, and a municipal incinerator all line a 50-mile stretch of the river.
"I would rather see the hydros than any of the other power plants that are up and down this river," Helfrich said. "Hydroelectric power isn't impact-free, but it creates no greenhouse gases - and I think it's better than coal, natural gas or nuclear as a way to get electricity."--MORE--"
And to hell with the fish, 'eh?
