Update: Boulder takes stimulus money for hydro turbine

January 6, 2010 · Posted by in Energy 

 

WATER POWER!

Water power!

Boulder City Council decided last night to make a big buy — they’ll put up about $4 million, in addition to $1.18 million in federal stimulus money, to replace the 73-year-old hydroelectric turbine in Boulder Canyon.

Apparently, the turbine would have kicked the bucket in about five years without an upgrade.

But while city officials said the project is much needed — because the aging turbine isn’t expected to work for more than five more years, and the hydroelectric plant could be decommissioned without a new turbine generator — the decision means the city also needed to come up with an additional $4 million that isn’t accounted for in the budget.

The extra money for the project, the council decided, will be borrowed from a fund set aside to monitor and manage the Lakewood Pipeline and will be paid back with 3 percent interest over 10 years.

During the lifespan of the new turbine, the city expects to generate about $8 million worth of electricity.

Still up in the air: Who gets the carbon credits from the turbine. Could be Xcel or it could be the city. Or they could split ‘em. And the carbon credit economy is weird and confusing, so it’s not going to be easy to make that decision. City Council says they’ll work on it for a couple of months.

Ned Williams, Boulder’s director of public works for utilities, said the credits are worth about $30,000 to $35,000 a year.

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