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Partnering for the future
With the help of a U.S. Department of Energy American Recovery and Reinvestment Act grant, a 3-megawatt turbine was added to the Abiquiu Hydroelectric Facility at Abiquiu Dam. This new turbine will increase the facility’s renewable energy generation capacity by 22 percent, allowing the facility to operate when flow levels from the dam are below or above the capacity of the two existing 6-megawatt turbines.
This facility is the Dept. of Energy's first major Recovery Act-funded hydro power project in the nation to reach completion and was achieved by the collaboration of the Corps, Los Alamos Public Utilities, Los Alamos County and the Dept. of Energy.
Department of Public Utilities Manager John Arrowsmith explained that water released from the dam by the Army Corps of Engineers is channeled into the Abiquiu hydroelectric facility, which turns the blades of the turbines, spins a shaft connected to a generator that produces electricity. “That same water then continues down the Rio Chama with no water loss, no created pollutants, and no greenhouse gasses emitted into the air. Hydro power is a clean and renewable energy source in the truest sense.”
Benefits of the project are many. Electricity generated from the new turbine will help produce an additional 7,866 megawatt hours per year – enough to power approximately 1,100 homes annually, displace 8,000 tons of carbon dioxide from coal-fired plants, and to provide 1.3 percent of the combined power requirements of Los Alamos County and the Department of Energy’s Los Alamos National Laboratory.
Last June the Corps of Engineers and Los Alamos County agreed that the Abiquiu dam facilities owned and operated by the Corps will receive 100-percent qualifying renewable energy from the new turbine. In exchange, the Corps will proactively manage water releases from the Abiquiu dam to increase generation of renewable energy in a manner that still respects flood control and water right obligations. (U.S. Army Corps of Engineers photo by Elizabeth Lockyear)
Partnering for the future
With the help of a U.S. Department of Energy American Recovery and Reinvestment Act grant, a 3-megawatt turbine was added to the Abiquiu Hydroelectric Facility at Abiquiu Dam. This new turbine will increase the facility’s renewable energy generation capacity by 22 percent, allowing the facility to operate when flow levels from the dam are below or above the capacity of the two existing 6-megawatt turbines.
This facility is the Dept. of Energy's first major Recovery Act-funded hydro power project in the nation to reach completion and was achieved by the collaboration of the Corps, Los Alamos Public Utilities, Los Alamos County and the Dept. of Energy.
Department of Public Utilities Manager John Arrowsmith explained that water released from the dam by the Army Corps of Engineers is channeled into the Abiquiu hydroelectric facility, which turns the blades of the turbines, spins a shaft connected to a generator that produces electricity. “That same water then continues down the Rio Chama with no water loss, no created pollutants, and no greenhouse gasses emitted into the air. Hydro power is a clean and renewable energy source in the truest sense.”
Benefits of the project are many. Electricity generated from the new turbine will help produce an additional 7,866 megawatt hours per year – enough to power approximately 1,100 homes annually, displace 8,000 tons of carbon dioxide from coal-fired plants, and to provide 1.3 percent of the combined power requirements of Los Alamos County and the Department of Energy’s Los Alamos National Laboratory.
Last June the Corps of Engineers and Los Alamos County agreed that the Abiquiu dam facilities owned and operated by the Corps will receive 100-percent qualifying renewable energy from the new turbine. In exchange, the Corps will proactively manage water releases from the Abiquiu dam to increase generation of renewable energy in a manner that still respects flood control and water right obligations. (U.S. Army Corps of Engineers photo by Elizabeth Lockyear)