Electric Power, Electronics & Sensing
GE Research awarded $4.3 million project from the U.S. Department of Energy to develop cost-effective, easy-to-implement method to enable more flexible operation of hydro turbines. Will outfit hydro plants with smarter tools to extract more plant data and improve overall operating capacity
Will develop a hybrid joint controller to enhance the operation of hydro plants with the support of batteries
Would enable extended operation and faster ramp up of hydro plants to support more renewables and stabilize the grid
Will demonstrate new technologies at three plants with two major hydro plant operators, Eagle Creek Renewable Energy, and FirstLight Power
With a focus on enhancing hydropower’s role as a grid stabilizer to support other renewables assets coming online, GE Research, the technology development arm for the General Electric Company (NYSE: GE), has been awarded a 30- month, $4.3 million project through US Department of Energy’s Water Power Technologies Office to improve both the operating capacity and flexibility of hydropower assets. A multi-disciplinary team of engineers from GE Research will work with GE Renewable Energy’s Hydro business, and two major hydro plant operators, Eagle Creek Renewable Power, and FirstLight Power, to outfit three plants with minimal sensors and other tools to enhance the existing operational flexibility by more effectively ramping electricity generation up or down with their hydro assets. Arvind Tiwari, Advanced Technology Platform leader in the Electrical Systems group at GE Research and Principal Investigator on the project, says the pioneering approach will allow hydro plant operators to unlock previously untapped flexibility to help address the transition to a more renewables-intensive grid. Tiwari said, “Hydro power today already is the most flexible and dispatchable renewable resource, but the growth of other variable renewables, such as wind and solar, will require it to become even more flexible and keep the grid in balance, especially as other traditional forms of base load generation come offline or retire. We believe this can be accomplished at minimal cost and disruption by outfitting hydro plants with sensors and other tools that allow hydro units to expand their capabilities.”
Tiwari added, “Working together with Eagle Creek Renewable Energy, and FirstLight Power, we will have the opportunity to demonstrate our methods in three grid connected hydro plants.”
Caption: Pictured at top is Eagle's Creek's High Rock hydro facility in North Carolina, and pictured below is FirstLight's Stevenson Generating Station in Connecticut. Both are among the Eagle Creek and FirstLight facilities being considered for the flexible hydro project demonstrations. Photo credit: Eagle Creek Renewable Energy for the top photo and FirstLight Power for the photo below. Justin Trudell, FirstLight’s Chief Operating Officer, said “We are very excited to work with our institutional partners to help find new ways to enhance hydropower’s already critical contributions to the fight against climate change. Hydro’s flexibility is vital to our efforts to create a cleaner, more sustainable energy future, ensuring that the growing renewable sector is both reliable and resilient.”
Eagle Creek’s Sr. Advisor, Jose Zayas said, “As we continue to decarbonize our electricity system, hydropower can provide significant system benefits to accelerate the transition to a cleaner grid. This research project is a critical step in identifying novel and cost-effective ways to unlocking hydropower’s true potential.”
Guillaume Rudelle, senior hydro product manager at GE Renewable Energy, said this project is in lock step with the Hydro businesses’ staunch commitment to advance more affordable solutions that can be widely deployed and harness the untapped flexibility potential of the existing hydropower fleet. Tiwari explained that a key objective of the demonstration is to show the increased flexibility and operating capacity of hydro plants with existing components, without compromising the life of plant equipment. Certain hydro plants were initially designed for stable, constant operations with limited flexibility. The GE Research team believes that with more data and great visibility of plant behavior, they can introduce more variability in operations such as fast ramp ups of hydro units without compromising the life of their components. GE Research’s hydro plant partners, FirstLight and Eagle Creek Renewable Energy, each have significant hydro footprints in the United States. FirstLight’s portfolio includes nearly 1400MW of pumped-hydro storage, hydroelectric generation, battery storage, and solar generation in the New England region. Eagle Creek Renewable Energy owns and operates 86 hydroelectric facilities across the U.S, and GE Renewable Energy’s hydro business has one of the largest installed bases globally— 400GW of turbines and generators—totaling 25% of the world's hydro capacity. As part of the $4.3 million project ($3 million from the DOE, $1.3 million in cost share from GE and its project partners), Tiwari said the GE team will look at a variety of operating scenarios, including the combination of batteries with hydropower and operational improvements for pumped storage hydropower. “As the nation moves through the energy transition, we will need to introduce more resiliency and flexibility into the grid to handle the changes that are coming,” Tiwari concluded. “Hydro is a key renewable asset and tool for not only producing more clean, renewable electricity, but serving as a stable partner in welcoming other renewables generation to the mix as well.”
About GE Research
GE Research is GE’s innovation powerhouse where research meets reality. We are a world-class team of scientific, engineering and marketing minds working at the intersection of physics and markets, physical and digital technologies, and across a broad set of industries to deliver world-changing innovations and capabilities for our customers. To learn more, visit our website at https://www.ge.com/research/. Source: GE Research

GE Bringing Instrumentation To “Flex” Hydropower’s Muscle

NISKAYUNA, NY – WEBWIRE – Monday, August 15, 2022
FirstLights Stevenson Generating Station in Connecticut, considered for the flexible hydro project demonstrations. GE Research awarded $4.3 million project from the U.S. Department of Energy to develop cost-effective, easy-to-implement method to enable more flexible operation of hydro turbines. Will outfit hydro plants with smarter tools to extract more plant data and improve overall operating capacity 
Will develop a hybrid joint controller to enhance the operation of hydro plants with the support of batteries
Would enable extended operation and faster ramp up of hydro plants to support more renewables and stabilize the grid
Will demonstrate new technologies at three plants with two major hydro plant operators, Eagle Creek Renewable Energy, and FirstLight Power
With a focus on enhancing hydropowers role as a grid stabilizer to support other renewables assets coming online, GE Research, the technology development arm for the General Electric Company ( NYSE: GE ), has been awarded a 30- month, $4.3 million project through US Department of Energys Water Power Technologies Office to improve both the operating capacity and flexibility of hydropower assets. A multi-disciplinary team of engineers from GE Research will work with GE Renewable Energys Hydro business , and two major hydro plant operators, Eagle Creek Renewable Power, and FirstLight Power, to outfit three plants with minimal sensors and other tools to enhance the existing operational flexibility by more effectively ramping electricity generation up or down with their hydro assets. Arvind Tiwari, Advanced Technology Platform leader in the Electrical Systems group at GE Research and Principal Investigator on the project, says the pioneering approach will allow hydro plant operators to unlock previously untapped flexibility to help address the transition to a more renewables-intensive grid. Tiwari said, Hydro power today already is the most flexible and dispatchable renewable resource, but the growth of other variable renewables, such as wind and solar, will require it to become even more flexible and keep the grid in balance, especially as other traditional forms of base load generation come offline or retire. We believe this can be accomplished at minimal cost and disruption by outfitting hydro plants with sensors and other tools that allow hydro units to expand their capabilities.
Tiwari added, Working together with Eagle Creek Renewable Energy, and FirstLight Power, we will have the opportunity to demonstrate our methods in three grid connected hydro plants.
Justin Trudell, FirstLights Chief Operating Officer, said We are very excited to work with our institutional partners to help find new ways to enhance hydropowers already critical contributions to the fight against climate change. Hydros flexibility is vital to our efforts to create a cleaner, more sustainable energy future, ensuring that the growing renewable sector is both reliable and resilient. 
Eagle Creeks Sr. Advisor, Jose Zayas said, As we continue to decarbonize our electricity system, hydropower can provide significant system benefits to accelerate the transition to a cleaner grid. This research project is a critical step in identifying novel and cost-effective ways to unlocking hydropowers true potential.
Guillaume Rudelle, senior hydro product manager at GE Renewable Energy, said this project is in lock step with the Hydro businesses staunch commitment to advance more affordable solutions that can be widely deployed and harness the untapped flexibility potential of the existing hydropower fleet. Tiwari explained that a key objective of the demonstration is to show the increased flexibility and operating capacity of hydro plants with existing components, without compromising the life of plant equipment. Certain hydro plants were initially designed for stable, constant operations with limited flexibility. The GE Research team believes that with more data and great visibility of plant behavior, they can introduce more variability in operations such as fast ramp ups of hydro units without compromising the life of their components. GE Researchs hydro plant partners, FirstLight and Eagle Creek Renewable Energy, each have significant hydro footprints in the United States. FirstLights portfolio includes nearly 1400MW of pumped-hydro storage, hydroelectric generation, battery storage, and solar generation in the New England region. Eagle Creek Renewable Energy owns and operates 86 hydroelectric facilities across the U.S, and GE Renewable Energys hydro business has one of the largest installed bases globally 400GW of turbines and generatorstotaling 25% of the worlds hydro capacity. As part of the $4.3 million project ($3 million from the DOE, $1.3 million in cost share from GE and its project partners), Tiwari said the GE team will look at a variety of operating scenarios, including the combination of batteries with hydropower and operational improvements for pumped storage hydropower. As the nation moves through the energy transition, we will need to introduce more resiliency and flexibility into the grid to handle the changes that are coming, Tiwari concluded. Hydro is a key renewable asset and tool for not only producing more clean, renewable electricity, but serving as a stable partner in welcoming other renewables generation to the mix as well.
About GE Research
GE Research is GEs innovation powerhouse where research meets reality. We are a world-class team of scientific, engineering and marketing minds working at the intersection of physics and markets, physical and digital technologies, and across a broad set of industries to deliver world-changing innovations and capabilities for our customers. To learn more, visit our website at https://www.ge.com/research/. ( Press Release Image: https://photos.webwire.com/prmedia/7/292998/292998-1.jpg )

GE Bringing Instrumentation to “Flex” Hydropower's Muscle

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The Michigan Attorney General (“AG”) filed a civil action in the Circuit Court for the 30th Judicial Circuit (Ingham County) on behalf of the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy and Michigan Department of Natural Resources against STS Hydropower, LLC, and Eagle Creek Renewable Energy, LLC. See No. 22-0150-CE. The Complaint alleges that the two companies mismanaged the drawdown of the Morrow Lake to complete repairs of their dam on the Kalamazoo River. The Complaint addresses the operation of a hydroelectric project on the Kalamazoo River. The hydroelectric project is known as the Morrow Dam. The dam created the impoundment known as Morrow Lake. The Michigan AG’s Complaint alleges that the State of Michigan and Federal Energy Regulatory Commission requested measures to minimize the environmental impact of the drawdown of the lake. It further alleges that the referenced companies drawdown resulted in hundreds of thousands of cubic yards of settlement mobilizing down a stretch of approximately 30 miles of the Kalamazoo River. This is alleged to have created a public safety hazard, choking the river and smothering aquatic life and habitat as well as impeding recreational use. The Complaint seeks:
A declaration that Defendants STS Hydropower, LLC, and Eagle Creek Renewable Energy, LLC, violated Parts 17, 31, 301, 303, 401, and 487 of the NREPA, as well as the common law doctrines of conversion, and public nuisance;
A declaration that Eagle Creek is the alter ego of STS Hydropower;
Civil fines;
Recovery of the full value of natural resource damages;
A declaration that Defendants' violations of the common law and NREPA have created an ongoing public nuisance and an order requiring the abatement of the public nuisance;
An order requiring Defendants to restore and repair the damage they caused;
The relief authorized by MCL 324.1704, MCL 324.3115, MCL 324.30112, and MCL 324.30316; and
An order reimbursing the State's enforcement expenses, including oversight costs, litigation expenses, and attorney fees. A copy of the Complaint can be downloaded here .

Lake Drawdown/Dam Operation: Michigan Attorney General Files Enforcement Action Against Hydroelectric Companies

The state of Michigan sued the owner and operator of a hydroelectric dam, alleging that its mismanaged drawdown of a lake to do repairs created sediment that has choked a 30-mile stretch of the Kalamazoo River, impeded recreational use and threatened public safety. The lawsuit, filed March 1 in Ingham County court, seeks compensation for damages and fines along with an order to restore the ecosystems of the river and Morrow Lake and clean up sediment deposits that in some places are 12 feet deep. The defendants are Eagle Creek Renewable Energy and its subsidiary STS Hydropower, the owner and operator of the dam in Kalamazoo County’s Comstock Township. “The lack of urgency by the companies to address these hazards left no other alternative than to take this civil action,” Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel said in a statement. Liesl Clark, director of the state Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy, said it prefers to work cooperatively to ensure prompt, effective cleanups, but “in this case the responsible party has not fulfilled their obligations to the law and the community.”
The firms’ parent company is Ontario Power Generation, which is owned by the government of Ontario, Canada, according to the suit. In a statement, STS Hydropower said the emergency drawdown of the lake _ which began in the fall of 2020 _ enabled repairs that eliminated the risk of a dam failure that could have caused disastrous flooding. It said it reduced the drawdown’s depth at the direction of state agencies and released water at a reduced rate until refilling the lake in early 2021. STS said it had been in settlement discussions with the state for over a year but was sued almost five months after their last contact. “We are still open to a fair resolution _ in court or otherwise _ that takes into account all the circumstances and the best interest of everyone involved,” the company said. The suit alleges the sediment has trapped deer and, in one case, a man who had to be rescued. It also has reduced water quality, smothered critical habitat for wildlife and restricted public boat access to the river, according to the state. Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Michigan Sues Dam Owner Over Sediment in Kalamazoo River

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COLUMBUS, Ohio, Feb. 9, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- American Electric Power (Nasdaq: AEP ) has reached an agreement to sell its 48-megawatt (MW) hydroelectric Racine Plant in Racine, Ohio, owned by AEP Generation Resources, the company's competitive generation affiliate, to Eagle Creek Renewable Energy. "The sale of Racine Plant is part of our ongoing strategic evaluation of our generating assets as we focus on our regulated business operations and invest in the infrastructure and energy innovations that bring value to our customers," said Nicholas K. Akins, AEP chairman, president and chief executive officer. "We continue to add new emission-free energy both in our regulated states and through contracted renewable projects that fit with our overall strategy and portfolio." The sale of Racine is expected to close in the second quarter of 2021 and is subject to approval by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. Due to the competitive nature of the transaction, the sale price will not be disclosed. AEP Generation Resources has retired or sold all of its capacity, except for the 595-MW Cardinal Plant Unit 1, which is set to retire in 2030, consistent with AEP's move to exit the competitive generation business. Scotiabank is acting as AEP's financial advisor, and Porter Wright is serving as legal counsel for the sale process. Eagle Creek Renewable Energy owns and operates 86 hydroelectric facilities in the United States. American Electric Power, based in Columbus, Ohio, is focused on building a smarter energy infrastructure and delivering new technologies and custom energy solutions to our customers. AEP's approximately 16,800 employees operate and maintain the nation's largest electricity transmission system and more than 223,000 miles of distribution lines to efficiently deliver safe, reliable power to nearly 5.5 million regulated customers in 11 states. AEP also is one of the nation's largest electricity producers with approximately 30,000 megawatts of diverse generating capacity, including more than 5,300 megawatts of renewable energy. AEP's family of companies includes utilities AEP Ohio, AEP Texas, Appalachian Power (in Virginia and West Virginia), AEP Appalachian Power (in Tennessee), Indiana Michigan Power, Kentucky Power, Public Service Company of Oklahoma, and Southwestern Electric Power Company (in Arkansas, Louisiana, east Texas and the Texas Panhandle). AEP also owns AEP Energy, AEP Energy Partners, AEP OnSite Partners, and AEP Renewables, which provide innovative competitive energy solutions nationwide. For more information, visit aep.com. SOURCE American Electric Power

AEP to Sell Racine Hydro Plant

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Eagle Creek Renewable Energy is an owner, operator and developer of hydroelectric power projects. Eagle Creek's projects provide clean energy to electricity consumers in North America while providing recreational opportunities and protecting historical resources and the environment. Eagle Creek was founded in 2010 as the hydroelectric platform company for its principal investor, Hudson Clean Energy Partners (www.hudsoncep.com). Eagle Creek, including its subsidiary North American Hydro, currently owns and operates thirty-nine hydroelectric facilities in Illinois, Wisconsin, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, New Jersey and New Hampshire and is constructing two new facilities in Vermont and one in New York.

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