Harnessing hydropower

Jul 29 - McClatchy-Tribune Regional News - George Levines Gloucester Daily Times, Mass.

 

A recent venture from the Cummings Center bio and clean-tech incubator aims to reinvigorate an old renewable power resource: water.

In the next year, the 2-year-old New England Hydropower Co. hopes to bring technology already used throughout Europe to the United States for the first time.

"This is zero emission, 100-percent-renewable power," said Chris Conover, the chief marketing officer.

The company operates out of North Shore InnoVentures, a startup incubator in the Cummings Center that attracts companies with a handsome incentives package and rent that costs only a third of what similar facilities would cost in Cambridge or Boston.

"Being close to home makes a difference," InnoVentures President and CEO Martha Farmer said.

People in bio and clean tech care about sustainability, which also means limiting commute distances, Farmer said. All but two members of New England Hydropower's core team live on the North Shore, with CEO Michael Kerr residing minutes away in Beverly Farms.

The company uses an ancient technology called Archimedes' screw in conjunction with a pre-existing river dam to harness the potential power of passing water. After a giant spiraled screw is installed at a dam location, water flows past the spiraled mass, slowly turning it, creating power through a gearbox and generator.

In 2012, hydroelectric power accounted for only 6.5 percent of all power produced in the United States, according to the World Bank. Most of that comes from dams much larger than installations planned by New England Hydropower. The potential for small-scale hydroelectric power is often overlooked, Conover said.

The target production for a New England Hydropower installation lies between 100 and 500 kilowatts. By comparison, the Hoover Dam is capable of generating more than 2 million kilowatts.

A 2013 report from the U.S. Department of Energy identified 67,000 total kilowatts of potential power in non-powered dams in Massachusetts, a number that grows considerably when looking at the entirety of New England. But, realistically, a dam location must meet a perfect storm of criteria to be considered viable. The company will start the lengthy permitting process for only a small number of those locations.

"Even if it's only 1 or 2 percent, that 1 or 2 percent is 100 percent renewable," Conover said.

The lengthy permitting process is one of many barriers to implementation.

"We've heard a lot of complaints ... that the process is really slow," said Sue Reid, vice president and director of the Conservation Law Foundation in Massachusetts, an environmental advocacy group.

The permitting barrier is not unique to hydropower. Other power industries also experience burdensome permitting processes, which Reid attributes to a lack of public support and to downsizing since the 2008 recession in key agencies like the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection.

Beyond permitting, energy innovators carry other significant burdens when attempting to invent low-impact, renewable power resources. Fostering relationships with state and municipal agencies, environmental groups like the CLF and local residents are all things New England Hydropower must consider before building. While the Archimedes' screw in many cases is the lesser of evils, the technology is not without shortcomings.

Though extensive research is still limited, it appears that most fish are able to pass unharmed, if slightly disoriented from the turbulence. But the technology does not encourage upstream mobility. Noise pollution is another issue to be considered with a whirling mass turning in a river.

Reid emphasized the care that needs to be taken when considering old dam sites. Sometimes, deconstructing the dam to renew fish runs is an optimal choice, but other times, tapping into the renewable energy potential of flowing water is hard to ignore.

"We supported in 2008 -- and continue to support now -- not only refurbishment of existing hydro to extract energy, but even to put incentives toward making that happen, so long as the facilities meet a low-impact standard," Reid said.

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