Yesterday, I wrote about the Reed & Reed-affiliated company Osprey 1 LLC that has asked FERC for preliminary approval to study powering up the New Mills dam on the Cobbosseecontee in Gardiner, Maine. I'm going to use this space to post some of my notes as I dig into this story.
First, some FERC basics. We're talking about docket number P-13709-000, Notice of Preliminary Permit Application Accepted for Filing and Soliciting Comments, Motions to Intervene, and Competing Applications re Osprey I, LLC under P-13709. Here's the original application for preliminary permit and a link to the FERC notice (3 page PDF).
The existing New Mills Dam is currently not in use for hydropower production and has no FERC license. The last FERC license for New Mills Dam was surrendered 5/16/1996.
The New Mills Dam was originally constructed in the 1840s to provide water to an adjacent mill. The dam impounds water including Pleasant Pond, part of the impoundment area of the Dam, which abuts the City of Gardiner and the Towns of West Gardiner, Richmond, and Litchfield. Pleasant Pond was the primary water source for the Gardiner Water District until the 1950s, when the construction of the Maine Turnpike degraded the water quality. The District switched ultimately switched to two groundwater wells.
In 1974 the District obtained the New Mills Dam from the City of Gardiner, which had operated the Dam for nearly a century. The District constructed a hydro-electric facility at the dam in 1982, and sold its power through a contract with Central Maine Power Company from 1983 to 1994.
1994 brought change to the river. That year, CMP bought out the contract and the project's FERC license was surrendered. In 1997, the District initiated an action under the Maine Dam Abandonment Act to abandon the dam.
The dam was the subject of litigation in the late 1990s.
Is this a good site for the restoration of historic hydropower capacity? What forces and factors led to the dam's abandonment in the 1990s? In the ensuing years, have those forces gone away?
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Showing posts with label New Mills Dam. Show all posts
Showing posts with label New Mills Dam. Show all posts
May 24, 2010 - new hydro at old dam in Maine?
Monday, May 24, 2010
A quick look today at a situation taking place at the New Mills dam on Cobbosseecontee Stream in Gardiner, Maine. This small, older non-hydro dam is owned by the municipalities of Gardiner, Litchfield and Richmond. The Gardiner Water District also owns a pump station and associated equipment located at the dam. I wrote about repairs to the New Mills dam last month, which were needed due to ice damage from the past season.
Now, a company called Osprey l LLC has filed a petition with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission seeking a permit to study the feasibility of a hydroelectric project at the dam. Curiously, Osprey's contact information and address in Woolich is congruent with that of Reed & Reed Inc., a general contracting company. Indeed, Osprey has been described as a wholly-owned subsidiary of Phoenix Renewable Energy, which is an affiliate of Reed & Reed.
So what is Osprey proposing? The proposed project would consist of “an existing 12-foot-high, 91-foot-wide concrete dam with a 58-foot-wide spillway; an existing 140-acre reservoir; an existing powerhouse penstock and outlet structure; new turbine generator units with a total installed capacity of 250 kilowatts; a new transmission line connecting to an existing Central Maine Power distribution line located 3,000 feet downstream of the dam; and appurtenant facilities.” Osprey's application suggests that the project could produce an estimated average annual generation of about 1,300 megawatt-hours.
The municipal dam owners considered a power project in the past year, but ultimately decided that the costs were too high.
Downstream from New Mills, Kruger Energy operates a hydroelectric dam, which it acquired along with other hydroelectric facilities of Ridgewood Maine Hydro Partners LP last November.
The applicant's contact information also overlaps that of another application filed with FERC on April 15 to study the feasibility of a 5,000 megawatt-hour hydroelectric project on the Morgan Dam, on the Sebasticook River in Hartland.
Is this the vanguard of a renaissance of small hydro? Historically, many municipalities owned small dams. Will take-overs of suitable sites by private companies be the next wave of small hydro?
Now, a company called Osprey l LLC has filed a petition with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission seeking a permit to study the feasibility of a hydroelectric project at the dam. Curiously, Osprey's contact information and address in Woolich is congruent with that of Reed & Reed Inc., a general contracting company. Indeed, Osprey has been described as a wholly-owned subsidiary of Phoenix Renewable Energy, which is an affiliate of Reed & Reed.
So what is Osprey proposing? The proposed project would consist of “an existing 12-foot-high, 91-foot-wide concrete dam with a 58-foot-wide spillway; an existing 140-acre reservoir; an existing powerhouse penstock and outlet structure; new turbine generator units with a total installed capacity of 250 kilowatts; a new transmission line connecting to an existing Central Maine Power distribution line located 3,000 feet downstream of the dam; and appurtenant facilities.” Osprey's application suggests that the project could produce an estimated average annual generation of about 1,300 megawatt-hours.
The municipal dam owners considered a power project in the past year, but ultimately decided that the costs were too high.
Downstream from New Mills, Kruger Energy operates a hydroelectric dam, which it acquired along with other hydroelectric facilities of Ridgewood Maine Hydro Partners LP last November.
The applicant's contact information also overlaps that of another application filed with FERC on April 15 to study the feasibility of a 5,000 megawatt-hour hydroelectric project on the Morgan Dam, on the Sebasticook River in Hartland.
Is this the vanguard of a renaissance of small hydro? Historically, many municipalities owned small dams. Will take-overs of suitable sites by private companies be the next wave of small hydro?
4/28/10: dam repair and communications; from wood mill to energy plant
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
Dam news: repairs to the New Mills Dam in Gardiner, Maine. In order to repair two uprights on the New Mills Dam in Gardiner, the Cobbossee Watershed District has drawn down Cobbosseecontee Stream and attached Pleasant Pond by almost a vertical foot, exposing more pond and stream bottom than in the past six years. The two wooden uprights of the dam were damaged by high water and bashed by ice in late February. Kruger Energy, which also operates a hydroelectric dam downstream that it acquired last November from Ridgewood Maine Hydro Partners LP, is performing the repairs, which are expected to take one day.
The New Mills Dam demonstrates one relatively common form of small dam ownership in New England. In this case, the dam is owned by the municipalities of Gardiner, Litchfield and Richmond. These three owners pay for the upkeep, while Kruger Energy is contracted out to manage maintenance and repairs.
Here, the drawdown has concerned some people who live along the impoundment. They are concerned about erosion, nesting ducks, fish, and in general about the management of the impoundment. While the drawdown is required for safety during the dam repairs, this situation demonstrates the importance of communication and collaboration between dam owners and neighboring abutters.
From a forest products mill to an energy facility! The town of Madison is considering the potential transformation of the former Anson Stick Mill into an energy-producing facility. The town acquired the abandoned mill and its biomass boiler from Downeast Woodcrafters, and now is exploring creating a municipal heating district within the downtown area. While municipal heating districts are common in Europe, as well as on American institutional campuses (e.g. universities), the practice is not widely deployed in New England. Madison Economic Development Director Joy Hikel said the goal behind a potential energy-producing facility is twofold: to reduce heating or electricity costs for the owners of the downtown buildings by 40 to 50 percent, and to provide local utility Madison Electric Works with an affordable source of energy to sell to consumers.
The New Mills Dam demonstrates one relatively common form of small dam ownership in New England. In this case, the dam is owned by the municipalities of Gardiner, Litchfield and Richmond. These three owners pay for the upkeep, while Kruger Energy is contracted out to manage maintenance and repairs.
Here, the drawdown has concerned some people who live along the impoundment. They are concerned about erosion, nesting ducks, fish, and in general about the management of the impoundment. While the drawdown is required for safety during the dam repairs, this situation demonstrates the importance of communication and collaboration between dam owners and neighboring abutters.
From a forest products mill to an energy facility! The town of Madison is considering the potential transformation of the former Anson Stick Mill into an energy-producing facility. The town acquired the abandoned mill and its biomass boiler from Downeast Woodcrafters, and now is exploring creating a municipal heating district within the downtown area. While municipal heating districts are common in Europe, as well as on American institutional campuses (e.g. universities), the practice is not widely deployed in New England. Madison Economic Development Director Joy Hikel said the goal behind a potential energy-producing facility is twofold: to reduce heating or electricity costs for the owners of the downtown buildings by 40 to 50 percent, and to provide local utility Madison Electric Works with an affordable source of energy to sell to consumers.
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