[Water_news] 2. DWR'S CALIFORNIA WATER NEWS: SUPPLY - 8/26/08

Department of Water Resources

California Water News

A daily compilation of significant news articles and comment 

 

August 26, 2008

 

2. Supply –

 

 

LADWP floats hydro-electric plant idea

The Inyo register - 8/26/08

 

By Mike Gervais, staff writer

“Going green” seems to be a way of life for many, and the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power has jumped on the band wagon, hoping to use its water resources here in the Owens Valley to begin producing cleaner, renewable energy.

The LADWP is taking the first steps towards a greener future by considering construction of a new hydro-electric plant on Tinnemaha Reservoir. Though these first steps are small ones, and the end result is more than a few years off, the Southern California utility is hoping to rely more on renewable energy in coming years.

According to a federal notice seeking comment on the proposed project, the new renewable energy facility will include a 215-foot-long, eight-footwide steel penstock, a powerhouse containing one 1.2 megawatt generating unit, a one-mile long transmission line connecting to an existing power line and four related facilities.

If the hydro-electric plant is constructed as proposed, it will generate approximately five GWh of energy. The daily output of 1.2 megawatts is enough energy to power approximately 212 average homes.

That power would be sold to local utility companies.

“This is not like anything imminent,” said LADWP Public Information Officer Chris Plakos. “There has been a filing to get the project on record, but it will be maybe 10 years before anything physical gets moving out there.”

The LADWP filed a preliminary federal application to study the feasibility of constructing the Tinnemaha hydro-electric plant on June 27. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission filed a public notice seeking comments on the proposed studies and projects on July 21, giving the public 60 days to weigh in on the project.
“There haven’t really been any real studies done on this,” and that is where the City of Los Angeles is now, said Plakos. “They just filed this application to get in the loop and to get the ball rolling and start studying the feasibility.”

With the proper paperwork filed with the feds, the LADWP can begin looking at the benefits and drawbacks to constructing a hydro-electric plant on the 2,098-acre reservoir.

“I think in the next couple years they’ll start looking at the flows out of there, the costs of construction and how much energy can be produced. It’ll be quite an extensive project,” Plakos said.

The hydro-electric plant is just one way the LADWP is looking to in order to “go green” and conserve resources.

With the water demand of Los Angeles expected to increase by 100 percent in the next 28 years, the LADWP released a water conservation and management plan earlier this summer that includes ideas for seeking efficiency in all of its operations.

Previous “aggressive conservation efforts,” LADWP Chief Executive Officer and General Manager David  Nahai said in an earlier interview, have allowed L.A. to experience huge population growth without per capita usage keeping pace.

Now the city needs to keep pace with its growth, and is looking to the future.

“I think everybody is looking at better and cleaner ways of doing things, and this is one way,” said Plakos, noting that waterways throughout the Owens Valley have hydro-electric plants already in operation. Those plants are owned by various utilities, including Southern California Edison and the LADWP.

“This is going to be an extensive process,” Plakos said. “But if anything begins to happen, it will all be a public process.”

Anyone who is interested in commenting on the LADWP permit application to study the feasibility of the hydro-electric plant may send comments to Kimberly D. Bose, Secretary, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, 888 First St., N.E., Washington, D.C. 20426. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission would like an original comment with eight copies.#

http://www.inyoregister.com/content/view/113881/1/