Redeveloping utility plants
- Reid Priest, Washington, DC (United States)
In 1987, Adirondack Hydro Development Corp., a Glens Falls, NY-based developer of independent hydropower projects, successfully won Niagara Mohawk's bid for proposals to redevelop the Middle Falls project. The benefits Adirondack Hydro offered Niagara Mohawk included savings in revenue requirements for the utility and its ratepayers, savings in avoided cost payments, avoidance of the risk associated with redeveloping the project, an increase in the generation and capacity of the project, and additional revenues for the utility through payments for the lease of the site. In return, Adirondack received a 40-year power purchase contract at competitive prices for any electricity generated by the project and a long-term source of income for the company and its shareholders. The redeveloped Middle Falls project has been generating electricity and providing benefits to Adirondack Hydro, Niagara Mohawk and its ratepayers since 1990. This example demonstrates an alternative for hydropower developers who are finding new project development problematic at best - especially in the United States. Federal regulatory initiatives and new state activism are combining to make greenfield development more difficult. Nevertheless, developers and utilities are exploring market niches for the deployment of new technologies and the opportunities for redevelopment and expanded operation of existing hydroelectric projects. At the same time, the new competitive utility marketplace has caused investor-owned utilities to explore ways to reduce or eliminate operating expenses on their systems in an effort to increase shareholder earnings while decreasing the cost of service. These elements have combined to create opportunities for the redevelopment of utility-owned hydroelectric projects such as was done with the Middle Falls Project.
- OSTI ID:
- 5068666
- Journal Information:
- Independent Energy; (United States), Vol. 24:1; ISSN 1043-7320
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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