POWER July 2011 - 45

RENEWABLES
ing its own renaissance of sorts, well below
the radar. The hydro rebound appears to be
slow and steady, far slower than its champions
and developers would wish. But it is real
nonetheless.
In 2007, FERC issued 10 hydro licenses,
and nine were relicensed existing projects.
In 2008, the agency issued 13 relicenses
and four new licenses. By 2009, the scales
had tilted toward new projects with eight relicensing
decisions and 10 new licenses. In
2010, FERC issued six relicenses and six
new licenses.
Since 2008, the agency has issued nearly
400 preliminary permits for potential licenses,
most of them covering small projects.
Preliminary permits are a means of queuing
for a license. FERC explains on the licensing
section of its website: " A preliminary permit,
issued for up to three years, does not authorize
construction; rather, it maintains priority
of application for license (i.e., guaranteed
first-to-file status) while the permittee studies
the site and prepares to apply for a license. "
Some 300 preliminary permit applications
are pending at the commission.
FERC's Jeff Wright, who heads the
agency's office of energy projects, told the
Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee
in March, " In recent years, the commission
has seen a greatly increased interest
in small hydropower projects, in innovative
Bowersock: Poster Project for Hydro Licensing
The Bowersock Dam has been a feature in Lawrence, Kansas, since
1874, providing power-first mechanical power through leather
belts and steel cable, and later electricity-to the sixth-largest
city in the state (population about 87,000) and home of the
state's largest institution of higher education, the University of
Kansas ( " Rock Chalk, Jayhawk! " ). Today, it is the poster dam for
how a hydropower project with minimal environmental impacts
can win quick federal approval, more than doubling its generating
capacity in the process.
Bowersock Dam straddles the Kansas (aka " Kaw " ) River, providing
flood control as well as electricity to the area. With seven
turbines generating some 2.3 MW of power, it is the only hydropower
plant in the state. As noted on its website, over its 137
years " the mill has ground grain into flour, produced the first
ready-make gingerbread cake mix, hosted a radio station, been a
paper mill, made barbed wire, and produced power-both electrical
and mechanical. " Today, in addition to providing power, the
project's millpond provides recreation to the city and supplies the
city with water.
There had long been plans to expand the power-generating capacity
of the project. According to Sarah Hill-Nelson, who, with
her father Stephen Hill, owns and operates Bowersock, initial
plans for the expansion show up in a 1924 Army Corps of Engineers
blueprint. In 2007, Sarah and Stephen decided to add new
generation on the north side of the project, increasing the total
capacity by 4.68 MW. Because the new total would exceed 5 MW,
Bowersock would have to give up the licensing exemption for its
existing generation and pursue a major new Federal Energy Regulatory
Commission (FERC) license under the agency's " traditional
licensing process, " a fairly scary endeavor (Figure 2).
Undaunted, the Bowersock team worked in advance of submitting
the license with local citizens, environmental groups, city
government, state environmental agencies, and the local office of
the Army Corps of Engineers, winning support from all for a project
that would produce more electricity with no discernible environmental
impact. The owners also worked closely with FERC staff to
be sure they had jumped through all the federal regulatory hoops.
Hill-Nelson told the National Hydropower Association meeting this
July 2011 | POWER
hydrokinetic projects [Ed.: see " New York
City Backs Tidal Power, " May 2011 in the
POWER archives at www.powermag.com],
and in pumped storage projects, particularly
closed loop pumped storage, which does not
involve regular water withdrawals from rivers
or other water sources. "
More Pumped Storage Needed
The big, highly visible hydro projects these
days are pumped storage projects, which use
off-peak electricity to move water uphill so
it can flow back down, generating power at
periods of higher demand. These projects
act like batteries. Though it is difficult and
very expensive to store electricity, it is much
2. Run of the river. The Bowersock Mills & Power Co. hydro
plant has been in operation since 1874. The plant was recently relicensed
by FERC to a 4.68-MW expansion in a new record time of
about five months. The electricity is sold to the Kansas City Board
of Public Utilities under a 25-year power purchase agreement. Courtesy:
Bowersock Mills & Power Co.
spring that close community involvement was crucial to the project.
" It was an open book, " she said. " We had nothing to hide. "
Bowersock applied for a FERC preliminary license in October 2009
(Docket P-13256) and submitted the formal license application on
Feb. 8, 2010. FERC granted the unopposed license on Aug. 19, 2010.
It was a remarkably swift process that took only six months.
License in hand, and also holding a 25-year power purchase
agreement with Kansas City's municipal utility, Bowersock was able
to line up the $24 million needed to build the new project. Sarah
Hill-Nelson and Stephen Hill closed a deal with the city of Lawrence
for $24.215 million in industrial revenue bonds, underwritten by
Stern Brothers & Co. The underwriters sold the bonds on March 10
this year, and Bowersock filed a financing plan at FERC on March 15.
FERC approved the financing plan on March 18.
When the financing closed, the local newspaper commented,
" Many efforts are focused on new ways to generate the power
America needs, but it's also refreshing to see a company like Bowersock
capitalizing on one of the old standbys. "
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POWER July 2011

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