Small dam on Stanislaus floated

By Dana M. Nichols

Record Staff Writer April 23, 2013

SAN ANDREAS – The age of massive hydroelectric dam construction ended several decades ago in the United States, but it could be that an era of building small hydro projects is just beginning.

The U.S. House of Representatives last week approved a bill that would eliminate environmental hurdles for at least some small hydro projects – those on canals or pipelines operated by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation. And though the bureau hasn’t identified any prospective projects on the facilities it operates in the immediate region along the Stanislaus River, the sign that Washington wants to make small hydro projects easier gives hope to some local water agency officials.

“Certainly there is potential and we would look at it,” said Kevin Kauffman, the general manager of Stockton East Water District. “Our inlet to the Goodwin Tunnel would be an ideal location for a small hydro facility.”

The Goodwin Tunnel is part of a conveyance that transports water from New Melones Reservoir to Stockton East. Although the 3.2-mile tunnel was often dry after it was first built, it now carries water almost every day of the year, Kauffman said.

Water districts have long been interested in ways to generate electricity. Not only can electricity be sold to district customers, but the power can help run district facilities.

The stumbling block, many say, has been the large amount of environmental review necessary for any project that would modify a river or other waterway. The cost of that environmental work can be absorbed by a large project, but is often fatal to a small one that might generate only a few kilowatts of power.

“It has just not been worth pursuing in the past because of the (Federal Energy Regulatory Commission) process and the regulatory process,” Kauffman said of proposals to generate power at the tunnel inlet. The federal commission licenses hydro dams.

A study by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation in 2010 reported that there are at least 70 locations where small hydro projects might be viable on U.S. Bureau of Reclamation canals and pipes. The study found that some sites could generate power if the water drop was as little as five feet.

In California, however, most of the identified sites were near the Carson River near Lake Tahoe. None were on Reclamation facilities connected to New Melones, where the bureau operates Goodwin Dam.

Still, water district officials said the region may have other locations where electricity could be generated.

“I am looking for them. I have a couple ideas,” said Mitchell Dion, general manager of Calaveras County Water District.

Dion said he’s reviewing documents from the 1950s and early 1960s that surveyed potential electrical generation sites. Thanks to improved technology, some of those locations may now be viable, he said.

Pete Lucero, a spokesman for the Bureau of Reclamation’s regional office in Sacramento, said that though no potential sites have been identified on bureau facilities along the Stanislaus River, his agency wants to be helpful to local water districts.

“We are always seeking opportunities to do something like this,” Lucero said.

Congressman Tom McClintock, R-Granite Bay, is one of the co-sponsors of HR 678, the Bureau of Reclamation Small Conduit Hydropower Development and Rural Jobs Act.

The bill last week passed the House with a bipartisan vote of 416-7. A similar bill has yet to come to a vote in the Senate.

Contact reporter Dana Nichols at (209) 607-1361 or dnichols@recordnet.com.

Visit his blog at www.recordnet.com/calaverasblog.