Comments:

Murph - 2007-08-30 07:46:51
I understand that this question comes up every few years - fix it up, tear it down, or do nothing? Fixing it up requires an initial cost, with the hope that the ongoing income is enough to pay back the startup costs. As you note, the annual revenue comes paired with an annual cost - which is why this consideration has historically led to the conclusion that it's not fiscally wise to fix it up. On the other side of the equation, the Huron River Watershed Council and State DNR have been pushing dam removal around the state, to the point where they're willing to fund most of that cost. "Fix/remove/do nothing" won't always be the case - if "fix" doesn't become financially feasible, "remove" will eventually be the default option. Like you, I think having our very own hydroelectric station would be pretty neat. But I also grew up reading a lot of Edward Abbey, so dam removal also has its appeal...
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Ypsidixit - 2007-08-30 07:56:10
That is a typically Murphian balanced and informative comment if you ask me...dam removal has appeal to me too, of course, perhaps with an eye to long-term development of that part of the river as a boating resource, with a livery in the benighted Peninsular Park and a seasonal (read: no heating needed) cafe in the old yet beautiful gutted power station.

Please forgive my ignorance on one point however: would a hydro station entail removing the current dam? Right now it's such a low dam that the water just flows over it, unlike, say, the big dam in Gallup Park at Dixboro. It seems that a whole new, higher dam would have to be built to trap enough water to build up enough force to turn some turbines. The present dam is also very old to my understanding; it seems unlikely that you could just build a turbine arrangement right on top of it. Hmmm. I'd love to read that initial dam study they just completed. Ypsi has so many people with so many inventive and good ideas that if the bread of information were thrown on the water, cool ideas might come floating back fivefold.

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Murph - 2007-08-30 12:30:16
Why, thank you! :) I don't know a lot about dams - my expectation is that tearing down the dam and building a new one would be a permitting nightmare, and be years before anything could happen, especially a higher dam, which would flood more land; the existing dam would likely be "grandfathered in". As for turbines, I think this dam has turbines around the side - through the powerhouse - rather than over the top. I would anticipate repairing the dam and spillway and installing new turbines in the same place, rather than trying to change the overall design? But my engineering degree is emphatically the wrong kind for this. I spoke with the gentleman from North American Hydro; I got the feeling that their "initial study" was mostly a site inspection and looking over the past engineering documents. They apparently are both in the business of buying/leasing old dams, fixing them up, and running them, and also the business of providing contract services for municipalities that want to operate them for themselves. Either way, as you note, I don't think this would be a *big* revenue stream - I would see the benefits as "keeping the dam from falling over" and "generating greener power" rather than "loads of cash."
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Rod (rodsmith) - 2007-08-30 12:36:11
Unfortunately, it's rarely cool ideas that come floating back when the bread of information is cast on the waters around here... it may be mistaken for bread, however closer upon examination...

the perpetual cynic in me has watched several good ideas turned 180 degrees into petty political bickering to the net result that the community loses out and its bright citizens lose faith.

Of course, Murph summed it up well, it will eventually be torn down.
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Ypsidixit - 2007-08-30 12:47:43
Murph: Ahhh, the old "hidden turbines" trick, eh? Well, it fooled me; I never knew they were there. Interesting.

I think such a project also adds to a tipping point of the general consciousness of and acceptibility of green or sustainable practices, too...one more bean on the kettle, or whatever that pre-video-game game was. "Don't Spill the Beans," that's it. In this case, do spill them. OK, my metaphor's not worth a dam.
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Ypsidixit - 2007-08-30 12:51:54
Rod: Hm. Well, (brightly), I hope that doesn't happen in this case. I thought the pro-baseball group who spoke to Council had a home-run idea. Still don't know why that was struck out (I'm on a roll here, people).
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