Some Dam Hydro News TM - Stanford...

4/25/2014

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Dams: (Lookslike they think it’s only a matter of time until there is a dam failure. Not a good thing!)Hundreds of earthen dams pose dangers across stateBy Staci Matlock, The New Mexican | Apr 13, 2014, santafenewmexican.com

Doña Ana County commissioners received a direwarning last September. It predicted a disaster ifrains overwhelmed dams and drainage systems inLa Union, a colonia of about 300 homes near theU.S./Mexico border. Two days later, on Sept. 12,the prediction came true. A torrent of rain fell andwater breached a small earthen dam upstreamfrom La Union. Homes flooded, streets werewiped out and residents were without gas, poweror drinking water for several days. A sinkholeswallowed one resident’s vehicle. No one died,but the flood through La Union is an example of adangerous and potentially expensive situation developing all over the state as homes have sprung up downstream of dams designed to protect agricultural fields, not people.

Copy obtained from the National Performance of Dams Program: http://npdp.stanford.edu

Some Dam – Hydro News TMAnd Other Stuff

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Quote of Note: “Intellect is not wisdom.” ― Thomas Sowell

Some Dam - Hydro News Newsletter Archive for Back Issues and Search http://npdp.stanford.edu/Click on Link (Some Dam - Hydro News) Bottom Right - Under Perspectives

“Good wine is a necessity of life.” - -Thomas JeffersonRon’s wine pick of the week: 2010 Artadi Spanish Red "Vinas de Gain" “ No nation was ever drunk when wine was cheap. ” - - Thomas Jefferson

http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/2056.Thomas_Sowellhttp://npdp.stanford.edu/http://www.quotationspage.com/quotes/Thomas_Jefferson/http://www.quotationspage.com/quote/22250.htmlhttp://npdp.stanford.edu/

The Natural Resources Conservation Servicealone built 102 earthen dams around the state inthe 1960s and ’70s to prevent silt andfloodwaters from burying farmlands. “They madeperfect sense at the time. But now that time haspassed and people have subdivided their landbelow those dams,” said Charles Thompson,head of the Dam Safety Bureau at the Office ofthe State Engineer. “We have a lot of peopleliving below those dams. Those dams werenever meant to protect people.” Thompson callsthe trend of houses built below agricultural dams“hazard creep.” It’s a problem similar to that offorest officials, who have seen an increasingnumber of people build their homes in forestsand other landscapes prone to wildfires. Someof the old dams, like the one in La Union, alsoaren’t regulated by the state, leaving privatelandowners or irrigation districts responsible for keeping track of them. Over the decades, farmers have sold the lands to developers, who don’t know the danger those dirt mounds in the arroyos represent to the people living downstream.

“The dams have created a false sense of security for people living below them,” said Paul Dugie, director of Doña Ana County’s Office of the Flood Commission. More than 100 other dams regulated by the state that have a high potential to cause deadly flooding if they fail do not have state-required emergency action plans and maintenance manuals, according to the Office of the State Engineer. More than half the state’s regulated dams were built before 1970, and 440 out of 491 dams in the state are earthen ones, which are more susceptible to erosion. “High hazard potential” dams are designated as such by the state because at least one person is likely to die if a dam fails. The designation doesn’t mean the dam is structurally unsound, Thompson said. But many of the dams are in poor condition, according to a 2011 report by the state engineer. Some have been improved to state standards since the report. Those rated in poor to fair condition may lack information about their design or need more regular maintenance for spillways.State regulated dams are inspected every one to five years, Thompson said. When his staff inspect dams, “we’re looking for signs of distress. We’relooking for any maintenance practices that need to beimproved or aren’t done properly.” Debris blockingspillways or silt clogging up gates are the kinds ofproblems that can develop at dams without regularmaintenance. “A number of dams have deficiencies thatcould be a problem during an extreme event like a flood orearthquake,” Thompson said. The dams creating SantaFe’s two municipal reservoirs are listed as high hazardpotential because they are upstream from the city. But thedams are in good condition, and the city has anemergency action plan in place, said Robert Jorgensen, anengineer with the city’s Water Division. The Office of theState Engineer has been reaching out to public and privatedam owners the last couple of years, urging them to comeinto compliance with state regulations. Many are trying,Thompson said, but dam safety requirements havestiffened over the years. It isn’t cheap to bring old dams upto new lifesaving standards or to make emergency plans.“The way we approach maintenance has changed, too,”

Copy obtained from the National Performance of Dams Program: http://npdp.stanford.edu2

By the NumbersAs of 2013

Dams in state: 491 High hazard potential dams: 237 Significant hazard potential dams:

85 High hazard potential dams without

an emergency action plan: 146 Dams in 2011 in deficient condition

(poor or unsatisfactory): 214 Deficient dams that are publically

owned: 104Estimated cost to fix deficiencies at publically owned dams: $200 million

Information from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, New Mexico Office of the State Engineer and Association of State Dam Safety Officials

http://npdp.stanford.edu/

Thompson said. “There seems to be less and less money to do what needs to be done with maintenance.”

Dams aren’t the only water-control structures at risk. The same week La Union flooded in September, the Gallinas Creek roared to life and broke through a dirt canal. Instead of flowing into Storrie Lake, the water ripped through Las Vegas, N.M., damaging hundreds of homes, barns and other buildings. After touring last year’s devastating flood aftermath, Gov. Susana Martinez asked state lawmakers to commit $89 million in capital outlay funds to fix dams, watersheds and other water infrastructure. The request was approved with bipartisan support. In the last few years, the state has handed out millions of dollars in severance tax bonds to repair dams that supply drinking water to Springer and the city of Las Vegas and other towns. But the total cost to fix all the state’s dams was an estimated $85 million in 2011. That price tag doesn’t include all the drainages, ditches and other infrastructure that are part of whole system to prevent flooding. After Hatch flooded in 2006, an extensive study by the Doña Ana County Flood Commission identified $6 billion in flood-prevention work needed throughout the county. Residents living in El Guique and Alcalde north of Española have been lucky. Managers of the nearby Sebastian Martin Black Mesa dams are paying attention. Seven earthen dams, located in arroyos that funnel water into the fertile valley along the Rio Grande, were constructed in the 1960s by the Natural Resources Conservation Service to prevent floods and silt from covering fields. The dams are managed by the Upper Rio Grande Watershed Association. “We’ve done a lot of work on the dams in last few years,” said board member Joseph Martinez. “We hired a contractor to remove silt, repair trash racks and fix the emergency spillways. They’re up to standards now.”

Some earthen dams around the state have been damaged by joyriders zooming their all-terrain vehicles over the mounds. At the Sebastian Martin dams, people have tried to rip out and steal the heavy metal racks that prevent trash from clogging up the spillway gates. In 2011, the Sebastian Martin dams were listed as high hazard potential and in poor condition because they needed to meet a new standard for maintenance with more people living below them. “The dams were protecting farmlands and the acequias, but now you have urban encroachment below the dams,” said Thomas Gonzales, Española District conservationist with the Natural Resources Conservation Service. “Before these dams were at a lower classification because they were just meant to protect fields.” Dugie said there remains a disconnect between subdivision planning rules and dam safety rules in New Mexico and around the West when it comes to flood regulations. New Mexico has avoided many dam failures recently. From January 2005 to June 2013, there were no dam failures reported in New Mexico, according to the Association of State Dam Safety Officials. That report doesn’t include the small dams that failed, or almost failed, during the September rains in New Mexico. Nationwide, however, state dam safety officials reported 173 dam failures and 587 near misses, where dams came close to failing. One of the worst historic dam failings in New Mexico was in July 1979, when a retention dam at the Church Rock uranium mine tailing site broke, sending 370,000 cubic meters of radioactive wastewater and 1,000 tons of contaminated sediment into the Rio Puerco. The contamination traveled 80 miles downstream. The state now has a new tool for mapping areas most at risk from a flood if dams fail. Thompson said his office is working with dam owners to help them develop inundation maps. Those maps are needed for emergency action plans required by the state for high hazard dams. Keeping the emergency action plans updated and practicing them are two critical points once dam owners have plans in place. “Updating emergency contact information every year is really important,” said Mateo DeVargas, emergency manager for Rio Arriba County.Rio Arriba County has three of the state’s largest dams — Abiquiú operated by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Heron and El Vado dams, managed by the Bureau of Reclamation.DeVargas said the corps holds a practice every two years at Abiquiú Dam “on the potential of what would happen if the dam broke or someone blew it up,” he said. “If Abiquiú went out, a lot of people from Española all the way to Elephant Butte would suffer.” Dugie said Doña Ana County is about to launch an effort to establish a flood early warning system. The county will hire someone to set up rain gauges and work with the National Weather Service to model storm impacts. “We’ll start to know how much water is hitting the ground,” Dugie said. “We may not be able to stop the flood, but we will be able to tell people it is coming.”



(Another PMF fix. PA doesn’t seem inclined to find out what the real PMP/PMF is!)PA American Water to begin major Elmhurst Dam project this summerBy Kyle Wind (Staff Writer), April 13, 2014, thetimes-tribune.com

Crews this summer will begin rehabilitatingthe 117-year-old Elmhurst Dam, whichcreates the primary reservoir that feeds intoLake Scranton. The lake is the main source ofdrinking water for Scranton and 18 otherLackawanna County communities. "As with allstructures, there comes a time when youneed to do work to extend the life of astructure," said Anthony Nokovich, a seniorengineer for Pennsylvania American Water."We are taking proactive steps to keep thedam in good working order so it will provide areliable source of water for many years tocome." Work on the dam in Elmhurst andRoaring Brook townships along the HamlinHighway is scheduled to begin in late June or early July and continue through 2016, said utility spokeswoman Susan Turcmanovich. The 63.5-foot-tall, 380-foot-long dam has "minor seepage," but neither the state Department of Environmental Protection nor Pennsylvania American Water has identified it as a problem, said Mr. Nokovich.

The project will improve the dam's stability by repointing the dam's masonry section and installing rock anchors; upgrading drainage systems to better collect seepage; and improving the structure's ability to withstand floods. Utility officials plan to demolish the existing concrete spillway - the part of the dam that allows excess water to safely exit the reservoir and continue flowing downstream. Then crews will build a stepped spillway in its place, add another spillway to the dam's right abutment and raise the right and left dike walls by 3 feet each to make the structure compliant with DEP standards. "The expanded spillway capacity will allow flow from the probable maximum flood, commonly referred to as a 1-in-10,000-year storm event, to safely pass through the dam," Mr. Nokovich said. The project is out to bid. The utility wrapped up a $27.4 million renovation of Nesbitt Dam in 2012 and a $10.2 million rehabilitation of Watres Reservoir Dam in 2008. Both dams are in Spring Brook Twp. Lake Scranton is a drinking water source for nearly 48,000 Pennsylvania American Water customers in municipalities including Dunmore, Archbald, Clarks Summit, Roaring Brook Twp. and Old Forge, among others, according to the utility.

(Huh! They need a better title for this article.)Crack In Washington Dam May Be From Water PressureBy Nicholas K. Geranios | April 13, 2014, insurancejournal.com

Pressure from the water behind Wanapum Dam may have contributed to the big crack that has disrupted operations at the structure, the Grant County Public Utility District said.The cause of the crack remains unknown, but the utility said it had ruled out four possibilities. Ruled out were seismic activity, foundation settlement, operation of spillway gates, and explosions at the nearby Yakima Training Center operated by the U.S. Army.A word from our sponsor:

Catlin US offers specialty insurance and reinsurance products to our US and Latin American client base. Both our underwriters and claims staff have extensive knowledge and experience in their target markets and focus on delivering customized and innovative solutions with a high level of service. Chuck Berrie, assistant general manager of the utility, said learning the cause could occur as soon as the next two or three weeks.



The 65-foot-long crack was detected by divers on Feb. 27, three days after a worker at the dam noticed that the top of a spillway pier had shifted slightly. When the reservoir behind the dam was drawn down by 26 feet, the pressure on the spillway was reduced and the fracture closed. Six holes have been drilled into the pier and more holes are planned to determine the geometry of the fracture and how far it goes into the pier, the utility said. “We are taking core samples of the concrete and analyzing that” to determine its strength, Berrie told the Northwest Power and Conservation Council on Wednesday. Drilling has been temporarily suspended while the utility assesses the best way to complete the task. The utility said it may be June before a repair plan is formulated. The reservoir shoreline exposed by the drawdown will remain closed, the utility said. The drawdown has left docks and boat launches on the reservoir high and dry. “You are going to see some serious recreational impacts,” Berrie said of the summer boating season.The utility continued to work on modifications to the fish ladders at the dam, which allow migrating fish to pass through the giant structure. The modifications, required by the drawdown, should be completed next Tuesday, the utility said. “We anticipate fish passage will work quite well,” Berrie told the council. Fish should start their migration as early as next week, he said. Wanapum Dam is the Grant County PUD’s largest power producer, capable of generating 1,092 megawatts of electricity, enough to supply nearly 900,000 homes. The giant dam, which is 8,600-feet across, continues to generate electricity at 50 to 60 percent of its capacity, the utility said. The crack runs the entire 65-foot width of the concrete base of the dam’s No. 4 spillway pier, but it is not clear how deep it runs. The dam has a total of 12 spillways and is located just south of Vantage, where Interstate 90 crosses the Columbia River. Despite public fears when the crack was revealed, Berrie said there was never a chance that the entire dam would fail. “We knew immediately there was not a real flood danger,” he said. The reservoir will remain at its current level until the exact cause of the crack is identified and repaired, the utility said.

(There’s already equipment that does this but is this cheaper and better?)Dyson's Massive Floating Trash Vacuum Could Clean Up Our RiversGary Cutlack - GIzmodo UK, 4/15/14, gizmodo.com

James Dyson's has an idea for anew form of sucking machine—oneso large it requires an entire bargeto house it. The idea here is to let agiant water-going vessel free andallow it to "mine" rivers of all thefloating junk that's been tossedaway into waterway everywheresince man first invented plasticbottles and tin cans. The potentialM.V. Recyclone barge, as it'sknown, would unfurl nets and pull 'em back in laden with trash. Then, it would separate its catch, shredding plastic waste as it came in, for eventual recycling. This large-scale Roomba is only a concept at the moment though, with Dyson taking the opportunity to promote his cyclonic home vacuums—did you know he made vacuums?—in his design brief. Still, it's a pretty neat idea, and seems like it could be an incredibly effective ways to clean up our rivers. Let's hope it happens. [FastCo via The Verge]

(Don’t how many years this has been going on, but it must be around 20.)Safety group urges Alabama to create inspection program for unregulated dams across stateThe Associated Press, April 15, 2014 - dailyjournal.net

Montgomery, Alabama — A group urged Alabama to create an inspection program for the hundreds of dams across the state, most of which they say go unregulated. Association of State Dam Safety Officials project manager Mark Ogden said at a news conference Tuesday that Alabama is the only state without a dam safety program. Dams that produce electricity, as well as



those owned by the U.S. government, are regulated and regularly inspected by the federal government. However, Ogden said most dams in Alabama do not fall into that category. Ogden said the National Inventory of Dams lists almost 200 known high-hazard dams in Alabama where a failure could result in loss of life or significant property damage. He said only 19 percent of those have been inspected within the last five years. However, Ogden said the number of high-hazard dams could be higher because of a lack of good information. "It's old. It's out of date. It's largely unknown," Ogden said. Tom Woosley, manager of the Georgia Department of Natural Resources Safe Dams Program, said that state created its program after a 1977 dam failure flooded a Bible college and killed 39 people. Woosley said the 42-foot earthen dam dated to 1899 and had been added to through the years. Rep. Mary Sue McClurkin, R-Indian Springs, introduced a bill in the last session of the Alabama Legislature, but it did not get out of committee.The state would inspect dams that are 25-feet tall or higher or those that hold back 50 acres of water, under the legislative proposal. McClurkin, who is retiring from the Alabama Legislature, said she hopes another lawmaker pushes the idea in the 2015 session.

(Workshop Info)The WDNR Dam Safety Program in conjunction with the Association of State Dam Safety Officials Will be holding three workshops in May. The workshops will cover basic dam terminology and design as well as owner required inspections. Time is provided for one-on-one discussions with Dam Safety staff. See the attached flyer for locations and registration details. Space is limited so sign up now!WDNR Dam Safety Workshops 2014.pdf

(It’s a good thing to have an emergency spillway tht works!)Oahe Dam’s Emergency Spillway Gates to See Repair Work By: Jeri Thomas, dakotaradiogroup.com, April 16, 2014

Pierre, S.D. – (DRG News) The Oahe Dam’s Emergency Spillway will be the main focus of work this year; as the Corps of Engineers continues with repairs at it’s Missouri River Mainstem projects. The Corps said earlier this year that seven contracts were awarded in 2012 to repair damages at Oahe Dam from the 2011 flood. The contracts were for work to repair gates, stilling basin roads, flood control tunnel repairs, and more. Eric Stasch, the operations project manager at Oahe Dam says with the 2011 flood bringing a record high pool in the reservoir, the Corps chose to take a close look at all of it’s infrastructure. He says currently, the main work that remains to be done is on the gates for the Emergency Spillway. Stasch says right now, it’s uncertain whether the Emergency Spillway work will be complete this year or next. Stasch says the spillway contracts required a complete check of the gates on the structure. He says a firm went through a design analysis of the gates, to make sure they would meet today’s standards. He also says though they are being repaired, the spillway gates can be made 100% usable in a short amount of time, if needed. Stasch says a lot of repair work has already been completed for the Oahe Dam project over the past year or more. Early this year, dredging work was completed upstream from the spillway gates to clean up a portion of the channel that was filled in during the flood that occurred almost three years ago.

(Look at the photo, where’s the dam?)Ruling allows Hope Mills to pursue negligence suit against dam builder4/17/14, m.fayobserver.com

The Hope Mills Lake dam failed in June 2010.ÊIn the fall of 2007, the spillwayÊhad received a conditional pass of inspection by NC Dam Safety which required that the dam be routinely monitored. Water had been impounded approximately 15 months before the dam's sudden failure.ÊThe Hope MillsÊgoverning board has now adopted an official resolution declaringÊthe Hope Mills Lake dam as the town's highest priority.ÊShare on facebook Share on twitter Share on pinterest_share More Sharing Services 0 By Rodger Mullen Staff writer | Updated Yesterday


http://npdp.stanford.edu/http://links.govdelivery.com:80/track?type=click&enid=ZWFzPTEmbWFpbGluZ2lkPTIwMTQwNDE2LjMxMzQzNTQxJm1lc3NhZ2VpZD1NREItUFJELUJVTC0yMDE0MDQxNi4zMTM0MzU0MSZkYXRhYmFzZWlkPTEwMDEmc2VyaWFsPTE2OTIxMDgyJmVtYWlsaWQ9cmM5MDRAdmVyaXpvbi5uZXQmdXNlcmlkPXJjOTA0QHZlcml6b24ubmV0JmZsPSZleHRyYT1NdWx0aXZhcmlhdGVJZD0mJiY=&&&100&&&http://content.govdelivery.com/attachments/WIDNR/2014/04/16/file_attachments/286022/WDNR%2BDam%2BSafety%2BWorkshops%2B2014.pdf

Hope Mills, NC - A judge's ruling Wednesday clears theway for the town to pursue a negligence claim against oneof the builders of the failed Hope Mills Lake dam, the townattorney said. Log in or create an account.T.C. Morphis Jr.called the ruling by Superior Court Judge Erwin Spainhour"significant." "Our hope is that this will push the partiescloser to a settlement," Morphis said. "Even if there is nosettlement, it will be important as far as the jury trial."Morphis said Spainhour ruled that the town could pursue anegligence claim against AMEC Environment andInfrastructure, formerly MacTec Engineering andConsulting. The ruling reversed an earlier decision thatreleased AMEC from any negligence claim. Morphis said itis important to the town's case that AMEC be a part of thelawsuit.

"We think the evidence will showthat (AMEC) did not properlydesign the cutoff wall, and wethink that's a big reason why thedam failed," he said. AMEC wasa subcontractor on the damproject, Morphis said.Morphis said Spainhour did notelaborate on why he changed hisruling. He said the partiessubmitted briefs beforehandlaying out their positions."I think he was ruling that wewere correct on the law," Morphis said.The motion on the negligence claim was one of several the town argued at the Cabarrus County Courthouse in Concord in an approximately three-hour hearing Wednesday, Morphis said.Spainhour also ruled that Crowder Construction, another defendant in the lawsuit, can make a negligence claim against AMEC, Morphis said. The judge ruled against a request by defendants McKim and Creed for a summary judgement in the case, Morphis said. He said Spainhour did not rule on a request by Morrison Engineering to be dismissed from the case.The town filed a lawsuit in October 2012 against the designers and builders of the $14 million dam, which failed in June 2010, emptying the town's centerpiece lake. A trial date of July 28 has been set. The dam, which replaced an earthen structure that failed in heavy rains in 2003, was less than two years old when it was breached. Morphis said that although the town hopes for a settlement, preparations for the trial are continuing. "Discovery is continuing. There are more depositions that are happening," Morphis said. "The town is talking about a mediation date in May; I don't know if that's going to happen or not." In March, town attorneys held two days of mediation talks with attorneys for the defendants. The talks did not result in a settlement of the case.

Hydro: (Smartphone and hydro)Apple taking over Jefferson County hydro project Water diverted from canal could help power Prineville data center


The Hope Mills Lake dam failed in June 2010. In the fall of 2007, the spillway had received a conditional pass of inspection by NC Dam Safety which required that the dam be routinely monitored. Water had been impounded approximately 15 months before the dam's sudden failure. The Hope Mills governing board has now adopted an official resolution declaring the Hope Mills Lake dam as the town's highest priority.

http://npdp.stanford.edu/http://m.fayobserver.com/news/local/article_1edf3dee-1d9f-591e-ab25-91735b8622f4.html?mode=jqm_gal

By Scott Hammers / The Bulletin, Apr 12, 2014, bendbulletin.com

A Bend, OR company that had proposed a hydroelectric project in Jefferson County has transferred its property to Apple, suggesting the computing giant may be looking to start generating power for its Prineville data center. Chris Gaither, a spokesman for Apple, said while the company will not comment specifically on the deal with EBD Hydro, Apple has made running its facilities on renewable power a priority. The Prineville data center is run largely on wind power purchased from utilities, he said, and in the company’s 2013 Environmental Footprint Report, Apple states it plans to employ solar and micro-hydro power in the future.

The 45-Mile Hydroelectric Project, first proposed in 2010 by EBD Hydro of Bend, would be located on the North Unit Irrigation District’s main canal, 45 miles downstream from the intake and about 2 miles north of Haystack Reservoir. As originally envisioned, the project would divert water out of the canal for approximately half a mile before running it through a hydroelectric turbine and discharging it back into the canal. In 2011, EBD Hydro estimated the project would generate 3 to 3.5 megawatts of electricity, enough to power 2,100 to 2,450 homes. Filings in the Federal Register indicate EBD Hydro transferred the property related to the hydro project to Apple in November. Representatives of EBD Hydro could not be reached for comment on Friday. In 2011, EBD Hydro received a $7.2 million federal loan guarantee for the hydro project and was anticipating construction would begin before the end of that year.

(Hard to believe that a hydro project prevents you from paying your bills!)IRS adds to bills piling up at Great Northern PaperThe company blames the ongoing dispute with a private dam operator for falling behind on its bills.By Edward D. Murphy, Staff Writer, pressherald.com

Unpaid bills from vendors, towns and now the Internal Revenue Service are piling up at Great Northern Paper’s idled mills in Millinocket and East Millinocket, company officials acknowledged this weekend. The IRS last week filed two liens against subsidiaries of the company, alleging that the mill operator failed to pay nearly $2.5 million in corporate income taxes in 2012. The company also confirmed that other vendors have filed liens against the company over unpaid bills and that the two towns where the mills have operated are owed nearly $3 million for late property taxes.“Great Northern Paper acknowledges the fact that it has outstanding tax and vendor payments,” said Elizabeth Baldacci, spokeswoman for Cate Street Capital, the New Hampshire-based private-equity firm which created the fund that invested in Great Northern Paper beginning in October 2011. “The company has every intention to work hard to bring the creditors current, including the town of Millinocket and the IRS,” Baldacci said Saturday.Baldacci said the company blames an ongoing dispute with a hydroelectric dam operator for falling behind on its bills. Great Northern, which shut down the East Millinocket mill in January due to high energy and wood costs, wants Brookfield Renewable Energy Partners to pay GNP the profits it has made on selling excess power since the mill was idled in January. Brookfield is the state’s largest producer of hydroelectric power and also supplied power to Great Northern.Cate Street Capital said it needs a share of the profits to reopen.

Last week, Gov. Paul LePage signed a bill encouraging Brookfield and Great Northern Paper to share the energy profits and provided a one-time exemption from a state law that would have otherwise barred the paper company from benefiting from the sale of electricity while a mill is shut down. However, a stronger version of the legislation that would have required Brookfield to share the profits was watered down earlier this year over concerns about its constitutionality. Harold Pachios, the attorney representing Brookfield, has said that forcing the company to share the profits was an effort by the state to provide a subsidy to Great Northern. He said it was wrong for the state to try to force a private company to pay the subsidy, rather than the government doing it on its own. Baldacci said Saturday the failure to reach an agreement on profit-sharing puts Great Northern Paper “at a significant financial disadvantage.” “Every day that Brookfield delays these negotiations is a day that bills continue to accumulate and hundreds of people are kept out of



work,” she said. Baldacci also said that part of the reason for the unpaid property taxes is Millinocket’s decision to accelerate the due date. She said that’s creating a hardship for all property owners in Millinocket, not just Great Northern Paper.

(Every time you buy them the price goes up and so do the rates!)Montana utilities: We are buying the dams again?missoulian.com, April 13, 2014

A recent article in the Missoulian stated that buying the 12 hydroelectric dams could cost the ratepayers $800 million. Wow. The first dams in Montana were privately built by the Copper Kings. After two of them on the Missouri washed out, the mining interests got smart. They found it was a lot cheaper to buy a politician than build a dam. With the help of the Bureau of Reclamation and the Flood Control Act, taxpayers footed the bill for one dam project after another. A few mergers later, the Montana Power Company was born. A regulated utility with a guaranteed 13 percent profit. Try getting that out of your bank savings account. But the makeup of the 1997 Legislature had a 2 to 1 Republican majority in both houses and Marc Racicot, also a Republican, moving into the governor’s mansion. What could go wrong? Enter House Bill 474, written by MPC and PPL lobbyists and dumped on the Legislature. It was immediately voted on without reading it or understanding it. What did HB474 do for the good people of Montana, you may ask? It allowed MPC to sell $2 billion or $3 billion worth of Montana assets, and completely dismantle a fine utility company that had some of the nation’s cheapest rates. All of the money that Wall Street and Enron didn’t get their hands on was dumped into Touch America. Which promptly went bankrupt. A great many fine MPC employees lost their life savings. But the head of MPC did just peachy, as did Racicot after he left the Governor’s Office (see Enron). That’s what could go wrong. We have been reimbursing PPL and others ever since. Now we are going to buy the dams again. I guess I have just one burning question. How many times are we going to have to buy our own damn dams? - Danny Lee, Missoula

(Inventing an idea that’s about 10 or more years old!)Satellite data to pinpoint micro hydro sites14 April 2014, waterpowermagazine.com

The University of Leicester is to work with British firm HighEfficiency Heating UK Ltd in a project that will use satellitedata to locate the best sites to deploy micro-hydropowerturbines. The Technology Strategy Board has awarded aUK£120,400 grant to the University and HEH for a 10 monthresearch project - ISMORTASED (Identification of Sites forMicro-hydropower On Rivers Through Applied Satellite andEnvironmental Data) Project. The project will utilize theexpertise of the University of Leicester in GeographicalInformation Systems (GIS). “Currently, to determine theviability of a stretch of river or stream for micro-hydro power,the process is expensive and complex," said Andy Baxter,managing director of HEH. "At present there's a significantfee to pay to determine whether a particular stretch of riverwill yield hydropower - and this is before socio-economic factors and due processes such as planning application are taken into account."

HEH has developed a long-term strategy to develop greener energy solutions around micro-hydropower generation. An initial engagement with the University's Chemistry Department's part ERDF funded G-STEP Project led to project definition and a successful collaborative research and development funding application for the UK's innovations agency Technology Strategy Board's recent 'Solving Business Problems with Environmental Data' competition. Dr. Kevin Tansey, from the University’s Department of Geography, who is leading up the research team, said: 'We are very excited that the project has been funded. During the ten-month project life the


http://npdp.stanford.edu/http://www.waterpowermagazine.com/news/newssatellite-data-to-pinpoint-micro-hydro-sites-4214317

research group will develop a GIS prototype and combine as many as two dozen data sets to evaluate sites. Some of these data sets will come from satellites or aircraft. A GIS is a very powerful tool as you can simulate the optimisation process multiple times until you get the right answers." Research assistant Jonathan Lee has started the task of identifying and sourcing information, the work of developing the prototype tool being built on knowledge of what data is available and how it fits together. G-STEP's Ed Lamb said: "The application of novel approaches, including satellite data, could make site identification quicker and less expensive. If successful this will benefit HEH, community stakeholders, and us all by making smaller scale 'greener' power technologies more viable."

(Too much opposition!)Snohomish utility takes the dam out of Skykomish River hydroelectric project near IndexThe Associated Press , April 15, 2014 - therepublic.com

Everett, Washington — The Snohomish County Public Utility District has changed plans for a hydroelectric project on the Skykomish River near Index. The utility has dropped plans for a dam or barrier to divert water. The "no dam" alternative announced Tuesday would tap a deep pool of water and send it through a half-mile underground tunnel to the powerhouse. The Everett-based utility says the new design would be cheaper and leave sufficient water in the river for fish, recreation and aesthetics. The earlier proposal for an inflatable dam or weir near Sunset Falls and Canyon Falls was opposed by environmental groups who said the scenic free-flowing river should be preserved. The Sierra Club, American Rivers, and The Mountaineers organized a group called Save The Skykomish River.

(You still have to deal with the fish issues.)Highly Innovative Hydropower Design Reduces Impact, Cuts CostsBy Kelsey Miller | 4/15/14 | wacleantech.org

SnoPUD’s Sunset Project Design Requires No Dam, Weir or BarriersEverett, WA — After a series of studies and design analysis, the PUD has developed a highly innovative plan for a proposed hydropower project southeast of Index. It requires no dam, weir or river barriers, which reduces construction costs by $10 million. The project could power up to 22,500 homes at maximum output. Diverse, locally owned power sources, such as the Sunset Fish Passage & Energy Project, help make the PUD and its customers more self-sufficient, resilient and energy secure. “We have proven success delivering low-impact hydropower projects that provide multiple benefits to our customers,” said Kim Moore, PUD Assistant General Manager of Water, Generation & Corporate Services. “This project could be a valuable addition to our portfolio. Among the low-impact projects we identified in the past seven years, it’s the lowest cost power source.” As part of the project the PUD would make improvements to an aging, state-owned trap-and-haul facility that trucks salmon upstream above three impassible waterfalls to 90 miles of spawning habitat. The utility also is studying potential road and recreation improvements.The PUD’s updated design modifies the water intake area and fish screens to cut excavation needs in half. It also reduces construction time by an estimated six months. In addition, more efficient turbines at a proposed powerhouse would increase annual energy production.

The “No-Dam” DesignThe no-dam design is possible due to the unique geography of the South Fork Skykomish River. Upstream from Sunset Falls, the river turns sharply – a complete 180 degrees – creating a deep pool of water, which can accommodate an underwater intake structure. The water for the project would flow from the upstream intake to an underground tunnel through solid bedrock a half-mile to the PUD powerhouse. Sufficient water would remain in the river for fish, aesthetics and recreation. The PUD cites several key benefits of its hydropower projects. They are non-polluting, local renewable sources with no heat or noxious gas releases. Their generating output coincides with the times of the year when energy is needed the most. Small hydropower projects typically are



sited at or above waterfalls or impassible barriers to minimize fish issues. Hydropower facilities also have long lives – many operate for 100 years or more.

Innovative Hydro DesignFor decades, the bulk of the PUD’s energy has come from Pacific Northwest hydropower. The PUD has proven success operating its projects in a way that protects fish, wildlife, recreation and community resources. The utility has garnered numerous awards for its hydropower operations, including from the Puget Sound Regional Council, Renewable Energy World and the American Society of Civil Engineers. In addition to the Sunset Project, the PUD is assessing two other local hydropower projects above Snoqualmie Falls near North Bend. These projects are the lowest cost renewable energy sources available locally, better in price than wind, solar, tidal and biomass/biogas.

Project SurveyStarting May 1, the PUD will survey customers about the Sunset Fish Passage & Energy Project. The survey will cover public access, recreation, aesthetics and other background information. Visit www.snopud.com/sunset in May to take the survey. Prize drawings for restaurant gift cards will be awarded. The utility encourages customers to participate.

(Maybe it’s becausae they’re smarter)What could Apple possibly want with a dam in Oregon? Sarah Zhang, Gawker MediaApr 16, 2014, gizmodo.in What could Apple possibly want with a dam in Oregon? Is raising condors with hand puppets going just a bit too far? Why should we all start eating prickly pears? Hey, it's time for this week's Landscape Reads. Apple Bought a Dam to Power Its Data Center When you upload your data onto iCloud, it of course gets stored on Earth-in massive data centers like Apple's facility in Prineville, Oregon. Massive data centers that use up massive amounts of electricity. That's why Apple is getting into the hydroelectric energy business, buying a dam in Oregon. As companies like Apple and Google snatch up wind, solar, and now hydroelectric energy plants, tech companies of the future turning into energy companies, too. [Wired]

Water: (I guess the old adage – “if gotta go, go upstream of a hydro project” – doesn’t fit here.)Portland Reservoir to be Drained After Teen Pees in Waternbcnews.com, 4/16/14

Peeved Portland, Ore., officials plan to drain millions of gallons of treated drinking water from a city reservoir after a teenager was caught on surveillance cameras taking a brazen bathroom break. The unnamed 19-year-old was captured urinating through the iron fence at the Mount Tabor Reservoir just after 1 a.m. Wednesday, water bureau officials said. Two others with him, ages 18 and 19, were also caught trying to scale a fence. The unsavory act has prompted officials to decide to flush 38 million gallons of drinking water — or the equivalent of 57 Olympic-sized swimming pools. Generally, urine in such a large volume of treated water poses little risk to the public, and even animals are known to answer the call of nature into the reservoir, which gets its water from the Bull Run watershed.“Our customers have an expectation that their water is not deliberately contaminated. We have the ability to meet that expectation while minimizing public health concerns,” David Shaff, Portland Water Bureau administrator, said in a statement. He added that the city has enough water at this



time and isn’t suffering from a drought That particular reservoir was taken offline while water quality tests were taken Wednesday. The results are due back Thursday.The three suspects, who were not identified, were cited for trespassing. The main culprit was also cited for public urination, and the Multnomah County District Attorney’s Office is deciding whether to pursue criminal charges. The city previously drained the reservoir in 2011 after someone had urinated into it. But not everyone’s relieved this time around. Floy Jones, co-founder of the group Friends of the Reservoirs, told The Associated Press that dumping so much water for something that hasn’t proven harmful doesn’t make sense. “It’s extremely wasteful,” she said.

Environment: (Never saw this much effort for people like those affected by hurricanes!)Moving spring chinook past drawdowns to cost $7 millionCrews at Wanapum and Rock Island dams are scrambling to complete modifications that will allow the fish ladders to operate under low-water conditions expected to last well into summer.By Christine Pratt, The Wenatchee World, 4/12/14, seattletimes.com

Wenatchee, WA— The thousands of spring chinook already headed up the Columbia River have no idea the amount of work they’ve mobilized at Rock Island and Wanapum dams. Giant cranes are hoisting and positioning. Divers are installing. Engineers and biologists are assessing and calculating. Accountants are crunching. Nearly every department at both the Chelan and Grant County PUDs is focused on getting the fish past the dams and onto their upriver spawning streams. The 65-foot crack discovered Feb. 27 across part of Wanapum Dam’s concrete spillway has forced a historic 26-foot drawdown of its reservoir to take pressure off the dam. Crews at both dams are scrambling to complete more than $7 million in collective modifications that would allow the fish ladders to operate under low-water conditions that are likely to persist well into summer.The drawdown has left the upstream exits of Wanapum Dam’s adult fish ladders high and dry — unusable for the migrating fish.

A Grant PUD contract crew from Max J. Kuney Construction of Spokane was busy Tuesday hanging in a steel basket along the dam’s upriver face installing submersible pumps, wiring and pipes that will get water flowing again through the dam’s two adult fish ladders. When work is complete the exit of each ladder will be fitted with a giant steel tank that will catch the fish as they emerge from the ladder. The tanks will each be fitted with a water slide to ease the fish into the river, some nine to 13 feet below. “I consider it a minor miracle that we’re going to make April 15, but we’re going to,” Ray Ellis, Grant PUD’s hydro supervisor, said Tuesday, of the deadline both PUDs have committed to meeting. Fish tend to follow the deepest part of the river, Russ Langshaw, fisheries scientist for the utility, said Tuesday. That means that some 80 percent of the 1,200 to 1,500 spring chinook that will soon be passing the dam per day prefer to use ladder on the Grant County side. Those numbers will climb to a peak of about 25,000 migratory fish per day during the summer run, he said. Until they see that the fish are adjusting well to the ladder changes, PUD officials plan to trap as many as 1,500 fish per day as they arrive at Priest Rapids Dam, downriver, and haul them by truck to release points above Wanapum or, possibly, above Rock Island Dam, Langshaw said. At the Chelan PUD’s Rock Island Dam, some 36 miles upriver, a different modification is needed. The lowered Wanapum reservoir means the Rock Island tailwater — the water on the dam’s downriver side — is too low under the lowest water conditions for the fish to enter the dam’s left, right and center fish ladders. The ladder on the Chelan County side is the one favored by some 75 percent of the fish, Keith Truscott, the Chelan PUD’s director of natural resources, said Thursday. That’s the one they’re working on now. Crews and divers from Knight Construction of Deer Park were at work Thursday. The 84-foot extension consists of two, 30-foot steel ladder sections with baffles inside that create the turbulent white-water effect



that attracts fish. A large steel tank, called a “resting pool,” sits at mid-extension. A smaller resting pool is at the top of the extension at the entrance to the dam’s existing ladder. Under current water conditions, all of Rock Island’s ladders are usable without the extensions, Truscott said. But as summer wears on and riverflow subsides, the ladder entrances would likely be above water in August or September without the extensions in place. Utility officials don’t want to take any chances.

“This fish coming up are a way of life for the Pacific Northwest,” Keith Truscott, director of natural resources for the Chelan PUD, said Thursday. “A lot of effort has been put into recovering and increasing the fish runs to the Upper Columbia. We shouldn’t allow an unplanned incident like this to deter us from our goal to be good stewards of the environment.” The Chelan PUD will pay some $4.3 million to extend the ladders on the dam’s Chelan and Douglas County shorelines. Grant PUD’s cost to modify its ladders is estimated at $3 million. All modifications will have to be removed when the cracked spillway is fixed and the reservoir level is raised to normal, officials from both utilities say. Both dams will handle passage of juvenile salmon — young fish headed to the ocean to mature — using their existing systems. Wanapum has a giant waterslide for juvenile fish that will operate at a lower flow, but one still strong enough to attract fish. Rock Island will pass juveniles using its “notched” spillgates. Experts from state, federal and tribal agencies have approved the PUDs’ emergency plans for fish. “We’re only down 3.5 to 4 feet, so we have much more normal operations than you see on the Wanapum pool,” Truscott said. “We’ve got confidence in the plan we’ve put together and our confidence has been bolstered because we’ve already seen fish coming up the ladders.”

(Aren’t they already installing fish-friendly turbines? Sounds like the world is trying to catch up with what they’re doing in the U.S. already.)Fish-Friendly Dams? Scientists Race to Reduce Turbine Trauma By John Roach April 14th 2014, nbcnews.com

A hydroelectric dam building boom in thePacific Northwest in the past centurydrove dozens of salmon runs to extinctionand has cost taxpayers billions of dollarsto try to save the fish that remain. Today,scientists from the region are hard at workto prevent a repeat of history at a timewhen countries around the world race towring more energy from rivers to fuel apower hungry and warming planet. "We'vemade some pretty good progress here inthe Pacific Northwest on determiningcriteria that can help keep fish safe,"Richard Brown, a senior research scientist at the Department of Energy's Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in Richland, Wash., told NBC News. Brown and his lab colleagues are collaborating with researchers from Laos, Brazil and Australia to apply what they've learned to reduce injury and death to fish passing through dam turbines on their way to the sea. The change in pressure that fish experience while passing through turbines causes a rapid expansion of a swim bladder used to maintain buoyancy. In some cases, the organ can rupture. The pressure change can also cause pre-existing gas in the body to expand, eyeballs to bulge and stomachs to pop out of mouths. For some species and life stages, injuries from this so-called barotrauma may cause more deaths than lethal injuries sustained when fish are struck by spinning turbine blades, according to Brown. Hydropower expansionResearch on reducing barotrauma is urgently needed, he and colleagues noted in a paper published in the March issue of the journal Fisheries. There's a push around the world to expand the use of dams to increase water storage and low-carbon energy generation on rivers in


U.S. Army Corps of EngineersIce Harbor Lock and Dam in Washington.


developing nations where people "rely heavily on freshwaterfish for their livelihood, both as a source of income andfood," the paper reads. For example, the Lower MekongRiver Basin, which includes Cambodia, Laos, Thailand andVietnam, supports an inland fishery worth between $4.3billion and $7.8 billion annually and provides as much as 80percent of the region's total animal protein. There are 11dams in various stages of development on the main stem ofthe river, which could "lead to a major decline in fishpopulations, significantly compromising food security,"according to the Fisheries paper. And that's just oneexample, according to Jason Rainey, the executive directorof International Rivers, a San Francisco-based advocacygroup that opposes dam construction. "We are talking abouthundreds and hundreds of large dams being proposed onrivers such as the Mekong, the Congo, the Nile, as well asthe Amazon and rivers that drain the Himalaya mountains," he told NBC News.Given the global rush to develop hydropower, "building new technologies — fish-friendly technologies, so to speak — into designs can be helpful," Rainey noted. He added that "slapping on some turbines that might reduce mortality and labeling that as fish-friendly is definitely sending the wrong signal to the public as to what these dams are doing."

Providing information"We are just researchers; we are not in anybody's camp," Daniel Deng, a hydrologist at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory and a co-author of the Fisheries paper, told NBC News. "Our focus," he added, "is to provide the information and criteria so that decision-makers can make the decision" on whether and how to build a dam. For example, Deng is developing a sensor-laden capsule that resembles a fish — a so-called sensor fish — that is sent through turbines to measure the pressure conditions inside. The data, in turn, help the researchers determine whether those conditions would damage a live, migrating fish. This information is then shared with turbine designers, manufacturers and dam operators. What's desperately needed, according to the researchers, is data on how pressure changes affect fish with different types of swim bladders, at different life stages, in different rivers around the world. Most information to date is from juvenile salmon impacted by dams in the Pacific A sensor fish is sent through turbines to measure the pressure conditions inside. One key lesson emerging from the salmon research is that modifications to turbine design to minimize large pressure drops — that is, trying to maintain a minimum pressure as the fish pass from the intake, through the turbine and back out into the river — could help more fish pass safely through the dams.

"The way that we elevate those minimum pressures is through blade shape modifications," Martin Ahmann, a senior hydraulic engineer with the Walla Walla District of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, explained to NBC News. He has worked with the information from Brown's team on barotrauma in juvenile salmon for a planned replacement of turbines at the Ice Harbor Lock and Dam on the Lower Snake River in Washington.He and colleagues use computer models of how water flows through dams to calculate the pressure of a given turbine design. They've found, for example, that the addition of an extra blade to the typical type of turbine in Pacific Northwest dams may maintain a higher pressure for the fish, but could also elevate the risk of blade strike. Other approaches include changing the shape of turbines and the location where they are placed in the dam.

Improved turbine designsAdvances in technology such as computer modeling and analysis have resulted in hydropower turbines that are about 2 percent to 3 percent more efficient today than those designed for dams built in the mid-20th century, according to Ahmann. These efficiency gains drop by about 1 percent when the designs include measures to reduce fish mortality. The team will find out about



the effectiveness of the fish-friendlier design when new turbines are tested at the Ice Harbor Lock and Dam, beginning in 2016. "And even then, we will not be able to necessarily break out any increases in survival that we may have gained (as) as result of improved turbine pressures or the result of reduced strike or just general hydraulic flow conditions through the turbine," he said. The steep drop in pressure that fish experience as they pass through dam turbines on their way to the sea cause bubbles to develop within the eye,among other traumatic injuries. What's more,the team's work for the Ice Harbor project isspecific to the fish — salmon and lamprey — thatpass through the dam with a specific type ofturbine. The "results are not directly applicable toanything else," Marvin Shutters, a fisheriesbiologist with the Corps of Engineers, explainedto NBC News. In other words, a turbine designthat allows more juvenile fish safe passage onthe Lower Snake River may be irrelevant topassage of fish in proposed dams on theMekong or Nile. The fish, for one, may havedifferent biological characteristics. In addition,the hydraulics of the dams themselves willpresent unique sets of challenges. Identifyingand modeling all these factors will be necessaryif hydropower developers are to stand a chanceof reducing harm to migrating fish, Brown noted."There are a lot of research gaps," he said.Ultimately, other techniques may afford fish a greater chance of getting through, around or over dams, such as fish ladders, barges and spillways, which are how more than 90 percent of seaward salmon in the Pacific Northwest make the trek. But even those measures, noted Rainey with International Rivers, may be futile for charismatic creatures such as the Mekong giant catfish in Asia. They require access to much of the Mekong throughout various life stages for survival but are unlikely to successfully navigate any fish ladder. "There might be some technologies that can mitigate or minimize kills," Rainey said, "but the notion that a dam will somehow be fish-friendly or will be supportive of native fish, I don't think that there is much evidence to support that that's the case."

Other Stuff: (Everybody should be concerned about this because we have amateurs at the helm!)EPA coal rules leaving US vulnerable to power blackouts?By Mike Emanuel, April 12, 2014, FoxNews.com

Facing the Obama administration's so-called "war on coal," some utility officialsare warning that fewer coal-fired powerplants could leave the U.S. power systemvulnerable to blackouts in the near future. The officials warn that intense summerheat or extreme winter cold could soon betoo much for the system to handle. "Iworry about the potential of brownoutsand blackouts if we're ... actuallydepending on this generation that's goingto be retired," Nick Akins, from American Electric Power, told Fox News in an interview. Pro-coal advocates say the administration's focus on its environmental agenda challenges the reliability of


The steep drop in pressure that fish experience as they pass through dam turbines on their way to the sea cause bubbles to develop within the eye, among other traumatic injuries.

http://npdp.stanford.edu/http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2014/04/11/epa-coal-rules-leaving-us-vulnerable-to-power-blackouts/

the nation's power grid. "Regulation from five years ago is closing about 20 percent of the coal plants. Regulations being proposed now could close an additional 20 percent of coal plants. And that creates huge stresses -- we're just not ready for anything like that in this country," Mike Duncan, from the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity, told Fox News.

However, the EPA says government studies indicate there will be more than enough electricity-generating capacity to meet the nation's needs. Asked about future regulations, EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy suggested the agency is trying to be careful. "Nothing we do can threaten reliability. We have to recognize that in a changing climate like the one we have recently been experiencing, it is an increasing challenge to maintain a reliable energy supply," McCarthy said. Still, considering this past winter's severe cold and "Polar Vortex," Alaska Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski noted at a Senate hearing this week that the system was at its limits. "Eight-nine percent of the coal electricity capacity that is due to go offline was utilized as that backup to meet the demand this winter," Murkowski said. And coal country Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin, of West Virginia, clearly has his concerns. "Add the fact that EPA is proposing new source performance standard, what this is going to do will effectively ban the construction of any new coal plants," Manchin said. "How do we keep the lights on so people's lives will not be in danger?" Even Minnesota Democratic Sen. Al Franken, a former comedian, argues this is no laughing matter. "We need state flexibility in addressing those kind of issues, especially on the new rules that the EPA will make on existing coal fire plants," he said. "We're talking about grid security -- it's a serious issue."

(The miracle material – google it and read about elsewhere!)Flowing salt water over graphene generates electricityDragging a drop around produces voltage.by Yogi Patel Apr 14 2014, arstechnica.com Hydroelectricity is one of the oldesttechniques for generating electrical power,with over 150 countries using it as a sourcefor renewable energy. Hydroelectricgenerators only work efficiently at largescales, though—scales large enough tointerrupt river flow and possibly harm localecosystems. And getting this sort ofgeneration down to where it can powersmall devices isn't realistic. In recent years,scientists have investigated generatingelectrical power using nano-structures. Inparticular, they have looked at generating electricity when ionic fluids—a liquid with charged ions in it—are pushed through a system with a pressure gradient. However, the ability to harvest the generated electricity has been limited because it requires a pressure gradient to drive ionic fluid through a small tube. But scientists have now found that dragging small droplets of salt water on strips of graphene generates electricity without the need for pressure gradients. In their study, published in Nature Nanotechnology, researchers from China grew a layer of graphene and placed a droplet of salt water on it. They then dragged the droplet across the graphene layer at different velocities and found that the process generated a small voltage difference.

In addition to being the first to demonstrate this effect, the scientists found a linear relationship between the velocity and the generated electricity. The faster they dragged the droplet across the graphene strip, the higher the voltage they generated. The scientists also found that the voltage increased when multiple droplets of the same size were used at once. What’s the mechanism behind this? The scientists looked at the charge distribution on the sides of the droplet when it was sitting still on graphene, as well as when it was moving. When the droplet was static, the charge redistributed symmetrically on both sides, leaving a net potential difference of zero between them. However, when the droplet was dragged across the graphene strip, this


An image of graphene, showing defects in its single-atom thickness.


distribution became unbalanced. The scientists found that electrons are desorbed from the graphene at one end of the droplet and are adsorbed into the graphene at another end, which results in a large potential on one side of the droplet and generates a measurable voltage across its length. The scientists then scaled this technology up to demonstrate that you can harvest electricity from it. They used a droplet made of copper chloride and placed it on a graphene surface. The surface was tilted to one side and the droplet was allowed to flow from one end to the other under gravity, resulting in the generation of a measurable voltage—approximately 30mV.Although orders of magnitude lower than today’s hydroelectric generators, these nano-sized generators can work with small devices, something that hydroelectric systems can't do. And they can easily be scaled up, providing the potential to create large-scale generators.



iThis compilation of articles and other information is provided at no cost for those interested in hydropower, dams, and water resourcesissues and development, and should not be used for any commercial or other purpose. Any copyrighted material herein is distributed withoutprofit or payment from those who have an interest in receiving this information for non-profit and educational purposes only.

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