PA borough may tap pent-up power

August 7th, 2008, posted by RobHop

With electricity costs soaring and the public pushing for more ‘‘green’‘ energy, the tiny Carbon County borough of Weatherly has dusted off an idea from the environmental movement of the 1970s: Put a hydroelectric plant on the Lehigh River at the massive Francis E. Walter Dam.

The borough, which first looked at a hydro plant more than 30 years ago, has applied to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission for a preliminary permit to study building two generating units that could produce up to 26 gigawatt-hours a year, Borough Manager Harold Pudliner said. That’s more than 1,000 times the 21 megawatt-hours a year used by Weatherly’s 2,621 residents.

Excess energy would be sold to a local utility, the application says.

Weatherly’s application says the project would consist of an intake structure that Pudliner said would be ‘‘run of the river,’‘ meaning it would not change the course or flow of the Lehigh River as it exits the dam.
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The usual

On August 7th, 2008 Anonymous said:

The usual communist/environmentalist haters will automatically complain about this.

They don’t want anyone to have anything, except for themselves.

But, the lake behind the dam would be a great place for Al Gore to show off his huge, new yacht.

There are hundreds of sites throughout Pennsylvania that would be excellent for hydroelectric projects. While the initial costs are high, the ROI will be significant, especially considering the rising cost our existing fuel sources. Also, hydroelectric, wind, and solar are more localized sources of energy which have the potential to create high paying jobs locally. In fact, I beleive a project at the lake in Beltsville State Park has already obtain funding. Surprisingly enough, it appears Carbon County – former home of king coal – is taking the alternative energy bull by the horns. Lets hope some of the other economically depressed areas of the state (read SWPA) attempted to get on board.

Landfills

On August 7th, 2008 Anonymous said:

I watched a show on National Geographic channel the other day on a big landfill in the southwest (NM?). They have tapped it to capture the methane gas generated by the garbage and also to clean and compress the methane to fuel the trash trucks. The landfill generates enough electricity to power 100,000 homes.

Pennsylvania takes in trash from many other states. It would seem tapping our landfills is a win-win for everyone.

How about getting energy from all of the heat underneath

On August 7th, 2008 Anonymous said:

the Borough of Centralia?