Water users group marks anniversary of Siphon Drop Power PlantNov 22 - McClatchy-Tribune Regional News - Joyce Lobeck The Sun, Yuma, Ariz.The Siphon Drop Power Plant has been producing clean, renewable, hydroelectric power for 25 years, an occasion that called for a celebration. "She's running beautifully and looking good," observed Charles Cowan, power manager for Yuma County Water Users Association, which built and operates the plant in cooperation with the Bard Water District on behalf of the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation. He spoke during the anniversary Thursday afternoon of the generation plant located along the Yuma Main Canal in Bard. It was brought into service in 1988. Looming in the background was the original Siphon Drop Power Plant built in 1925-26 to provide power for the Yuma Project. The Yuma County Water Users Association assumed the care and operation of the power plant in 1963. It was shut down in 1972, but the abandoned plant still stands on the banks of the Yuma Main Canal near the current power plant. That left Yuma County Water Users Association having to purchase power to run its irrigation distribution system. "It was well worth it for them to build a new plant," said Don Bryce, an electrical engineer with the USBR's regional office in Boulder City, Nev. Water now comes directly out of the All American Canal in California through the Siphon Drop Power Plant into the Yuma Main Canal, then through the siphon under the Colorado River at Yuma into the association's irrigation system in the Yuma Valley. Many of those who had a major part in the decision to build that new plant are now gone, said Jim Cuming, president of Yuma County Water Users Association. He also was president when the plant was built in the late 1980s. However, their legacy lives on, with the plant generating up to 4.4 megawatts of electricity -- enough to power 4,000 homes. Some of the power goes to run the district's pumps, with the remainder sold to Imperial Irrigation District, providing revenue to run the plant. The plant also is connected with the Western Area Power Administration and Arizona Public Service Co. Cuming related that the president of United Bank was a little nervous about the $5.5 million loan that was obtained for the $11 million project, and later increased to $7 million. The banker's nervousness was because it was an unsecured loan since the property and the plant would remain the property of the federal government. As it turned out, the district paid off the loan a year early. "It's been a terrific investment for us and for Bard," Cuming said. He recalled how the plant came to be. In January 1981, the association learned through a newspaper clipping that a private corporation named Energenics had filed an application to construct a power plant at Siphon Drop to provide power for the city of McFarland, Calif. After three years of intense negotiating, the association convinced the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to cancel McFarland's permit and issue one to the Yuma County Water Users. Yuma engineer Jim Davey served as the resident engineer on the project for Boyle Engineering, which was hired for the design, engineering and construction management. "It's nice to see it still running good," he observed. Over the years the plant has been upgraded and in 2010 underwent a "momentous change," said Cowan. That was when the plant attained its California Energy Commission certification as a renewable power resource. Since then, it has been engaged in helping California power providers meet their renewable portfolio standards http://www.energycentral.com/functional/news/news_detail.cfm?did=30725549& |