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.

Did you even know that Boulder had a 73-year-old hydroelectric turbine?

Boulder’s looking at upgrading its aging hydroelectric turbine in Boulder Canyon, but even with a federal discount, it would cost the city about $4 million. That debate breaks down into a pretty easy-to-understand $4-ish million now or probably $5.2-ish million later — and City Council will address that tomorrow (Tuesday) night at 6 p.m.

But if the city upgrades (and scores the additional projected 30 percent in energy production), it would still have to navigate the murky waters of carbon credits. Right now, the city forks over its carbon credits to Xcel, (which allows the city to sell its energy to Xcel at higher rates). In the future, the city could keep the credits and count them against its own carbon footprint, which is of special interest because the city has committed to meeting Kyoto goals. (Remember Kyoto?)

From the Camera:

Boulder Mayor Susan Osborne said she recognizes the practical benefits of allowing Xcel to keep the carbon credits, but the council needs to have a more in-depth conversation about how to deal with renewable energy credits, whether it’s from hydroelectric projects or community “solar gardens.”

“If we’re going to talk to our residents about meeting our Kyoto goals, we ought to have some way of counting these credits that Boulder taxpayers have paid for,” she said. “It’s important to remember that this infrastructure has been bought and paid for by the citizens of Boulder.”

Read more about Boulder’s carbon credit conundrum, or check out the meeting Tuesday at 6 p.m. at Boulder Municipal Building, council chambers, 1777 Broadway.

The symmetrical spruce, with evenly formed and dense branches that tapered from base to tip, was a destination stop for generations of sightseers until the old grand dame of the forest died and fell over in the 1990s.

Road builders, in 1871, probably were the first to view the tree when they pushed their way through the steep canyon walls to construct a one-lane dirt road between Boulder and Nederland. Even then, the stately spruce was estimated to have been more than 200 years old.

A Camera reporter of the era described the tree as “a touch of perfection–of the ideal that all men seek for but that all do not attain.” Meanwhile, horse-drawn freight wagons threw up dust as they hauled out silver ore from the mountain town of Caribou and then returned from Boulder with supplies.

Read more of the “perfect tree’s” history — and what may be its current resting spot on the forest floor — from Silvia Pettem.