Maine names companies to inventory hydropower potential - HydroWorld

The Governor’s Energy Office has named Kleinschmidt Associates, in partnership with Ocean Renewable Power Co. and TRC, to update Maine’s inventory of undeveloped hydropower potential.

As part of updating the state’s Comprehensive Energy Plan, the energy office had requested proposals to perform an inventory of hydro resources. The work is to include recommendations for regulatory modifications that could expand economic opportunities through additional hydropower production consistent with state environmental objectives.

The inventory is to identify potential sites for small and micro-hydropower projects, untapped potential at existing hydropower sites, and hydrokinetic resources using energy produced from river flows, waves, tides and currents. The initial assessment is to undergo further analysis to identify the most feasible sites for development.

The Kleinschmidt team also is to evaluate the regulatory environment, identify obstacles to new investment, and provide recommendations to encourage further development.

Energy Office Director Patrick Woodcock said additional technologies have been developed since the last inventory in the 1990s, when the vision was to construct significant new dams. The expansion of small facilities, use of run-of-river technologies, retrofitting of non-generating dams with hydropower equipment, and increased efficiency of existing projects now are seen as ways to expand clean energy production.

Maine names companies to inventory hydropower potential - HydroWorld