HYDROELECTRICITY

HYDROELECTRICITY. The generation of electric power from energy provided by flowing water. With the construction of Lock and Dam 11 at Dubuque in the 1930s, the possibility of using the facility to produce electricity was studied and rejected. The potential of the dam to create electric power was again discussed in 1978 as a result of a three-year study by the United States Army Corps of Engineers' Institute of Water Resources of the nation's dams.

Problems mentioned in the production of hydroelectric power included doubts that such power could be marketed competitively with energy produced by burning coal. Drops from one navigation pool to another on the Upper MISSISSIPPI RIVER have been considered insufficient. During periods of low water nearly all the navigation pools would have to be drained to keep generators operating. Increasing prices for fossil fuels such as coal and declining supplies in the future could make the production of hydroelectric power more likely.

In 2013 Missouri River Energy Sergices, a Sioux-Falls, South Dakota based utility company considered Dubuque as a site for a future project but chose instead other locations. (1)

In 2015 Energy Resources USA Inc. announced that it was considering Dubuque as a possible location for a future project. The company also applied for a preliminary permit to build a hydropower plant at Lock and Dam No. 11. The permit would allow the company three years to consider developing the site, but would not authorize construction. (2)

The proposed 19,800-foot power plant would produce 119,655 meta-watt-hours per year. This would be enough energy to power between 10,000 and 11,000 homes. (3)

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Source:

1. Barton, Thomas J. "Dubuque Dam Eyed for Power Source," Telegraph Herald, September 5, 2015, p. 1

2. Ibid.

3. Ibid.