There are some very exciting developments brewing concerning hydropower and the Niagara River. Suddenly there have been three applications proposed for underwater turbine farms in both the Upper and Lower River. These proposals have been issued before many of the preliminary studies of hydro turbines in the East River have been completed. This could be big for the WNY area… it is also too early to pit the environmental benefits and concerns against each other.
From Riverkeeper Larry Brooks:
“The intention is to build one project on the US side… though there are now three proposals in total. One application is for the Upper River and two are for the Lower River. The one on the Upper River would be located somewhere between the Peace Bridge and the Northern tip of Grand Island. There is a map where they have pinpointed the start and stop. There are several concerns including river habitat impact on fish. On the East River they have not completed the study on the impacts of fish, river flow, etc. The turbine blades do turn slowly, but the current travels fairly quickly. There are variable speeds as well. The proposal for the Upper River is from a Massachusetts firm… it’s for 875 turbines (clustered)… and we’re sill looking into the Lower River applications. This will not just impact the water – there are power lines that come out of the water and onto the land. There would also be an impact of the flow of the river… whether that would impact power sources lower in the river is not determined. These initial permits are for further study, not to build. It looks like it will take 36 months to conduct economic and environmental studies. This is the time for the public to file any sort of comments about the concept (pro or con). The deadline for the Upper River project is May 20th. We’re staying open minded and accepting information from all sources. We hope to have an opinion, one way or another, very soon. We just found out this morning that there were three companies submitting applications… that is very surprising (Houston has two applications in the Lower River… one for 36 units and one for 54 units).”
From Riverkeeper Julie O’Neill:
“It is going to be really interesting. We’re just starting to look at the issues. The river is already impacted by previous projects… we need to be sure that this will not tip the river over the edge. We’re looking at access, habitat, temperatures… we have to look at all three proposals at the same time. We don’t want to end up with a Peace Bridge project. This is the first that we have heard about this… there has been no public input because the public was not notified… that is unfortunate. This is very early technology… this could be one of the cleanest, healthiest sources of electricity, but we want to make sure that The Niagara does not take another one on the chin. Let’s think through the details… it is not an easy project… we don’t want to rush it. This is not any other river – it is very different. It’s just less than 90% of North America’s fresh water.”
Photos of East River from Verdant Power website
For further info, visit the Riverkeeper website