A little more than 2,500 of the dams are being used to produce electricity, the report says.
Expanding hydroelectric capacity can “help diversify our energy mix, create jobs and reduce carbon pollution nationwide,” Energy Secretary Steven Chu said in a release.
At this point, only 6 percent of the country’s electricity is produced by hydroelectric plants.
Construction on the city’s newest hydroelectric generation facility was started in 2010 and is on track to begin operations in the summer 2014. It will allow the city to produce 90 percent of its own electricity.
Hamilton and American Municipal Power Ohio have a joint development agreement to build the 105 megawatt run-of-the-river hydroelectric power station on 86 acres at the Capt. Anthony B. Meldahl Locks and Dam along the Ohio River in Foster, Ky., about 40 miles east of Cincinnati.
Kent Carson, AMP-Ohio’s senior director of communication, said nearly 100,000 yards of concrete have been poured for the powerhouse where 300 tons of rotating equipment will be situated at the plant.
The powerhouse for the three turbines generating the electricity is being constructed by joint venture between Alberici of St. Louis, Mo., and Baker Concrete Construction in Monroe.
Phil Meyer, the Meldahl project manager for AMP-Ohio, said there are 400 people working on the construction of the plant across two shifts. However, once the plant becomes operational, it will have between seven and 12 permanent employees.
The locks and dam, which are on the Ohio side of the river, are about 50 years old, Meyer said.
The Meldahl plant is one of four hydroelectric plant projects on the Ohio River that AMP-Ohio is developing that will have a capacity of generating 300 megawatts of electricity. Meyer said AMP-Ohio has the highest deployment of hydroelectric in the nation.
Hamilton is entitled to 51.4 percent of the plant’s output when it goes online in 2014, said Tim Werdmann, deputy city manager for utilities. The remaining capacity will go to AMP-Ohio members who are communities that run municipal power systems.
Werdmann said the new plant will help stabilize electric rates for the next 10 years for its 29,000 residential, commercial and industrial customers; and fill the void for power generation when many older coal-fired plants are shutdown because of new environmental laws.
“This will keep us in a very stable position,” he said. “Hamilton has competitive rates and are among the lowest in the state.”
City officials have said that once Meldahl is completed, 70 percent of Hamilton’s generation capacity will come from clean, renewable sources and the electric utility will have a budget of more than $250 million.
“The city also has experience with hydroelectric with the Greenup plant near Franklin Furnace, Ohio, near another set of locks and dam,” he said.
Werdmann said the city acquired the Greenup hydroelectric plan in 1982.
“We saw the benefits and gained the experience so when the license for Meldahl came open, Hamilton went for it,” he said.
Through the bidding process in which estimates for the powerhouse construction came in lower than projected as well as lower interest rates, the project saved about $55 million last year, city officials said.
Power generated at the Meldahl plant will be carried to the grid via a 138 kilovolt transmission line that will cross the Ohio River and run about 2.2 miles to interconnect with the existing 345 kilovolt Zimmer-Spurlock transmission line in Clermont County.
City officials have said 48.6 percent of the power produced at the 66 megawatt Greenup plant will be sold to AMP-Ohio once the Meldahl plant goes online. The city has agreed to sell half of the Greenup plant for $139 million with the transaction is completed in 2014.
Contact this reporter at (513) 696-4504 or at Ed.Richter@coxinc.com.
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