Delta-Montrose Electric Association led a group of 15 over to the Frying Pan River Monday on May 19 to visit two small hydroelectric installations. The goal was to encourage the installation of small hydroelectric systems in Delta and Montrose counties, according to DMEA board member Ed Marston, who organized it.

The group visited engineer Tom Golec, who lives just above Ruedi Reservoir. Golec started out 18 years ago with a one kilowatt system using water flowing from a spring above his home. Golec said that first system cost less than $10,000, with most of the money going for piping. It is powered by a little less than 50 gallons per minute. That first small system ran his house. “It wouldn’t run an Aspen house, but it powered mine.” That success was followed by construction of a 25-kilowatt system about a decade ago, costing $65,000, not including his and a partner’s time. That system runs year-around using water diverted from Ruedi Creek, and is a cash cow. His power is sold to DMEA’s sister co-op, Holy Cross Electric Association, for about 6 cents per kilowatt hour. The 1,000 gallons per minute of flow he diverts into a pipe from Ruedi Creek falls 231 feet to create the power.

Golec’s water is clean, coming from a high altitude, and the two systems require little maintenance beyond the occasional cleaning of a trash screen. It is also available year around. Golec, who went on from building his two installations to install other systems as a consultant, said each one is different. The key factors, he said, include how much water is available, when the water runs, how clean it is, what property has to be crossed by pipelines, and how close the turbine is to a power line. “It’s good if it’s near a power line and if the water is already in a pipe.” In general, Golec said, a stream or ditch must have at least 40 feet of vertical fall. Ditches that run only five or six months of the year may not make economic sense. But seasonal flow doesn’t always eliminate a site if other factors are favorable. Golec helped add a turbine to the snowmaking system at Snowmass Ski Area. The water was already in pipes. And it has so much fall and so much water that it makes money even though it only runs during the spring run-off. It generates 150,000 kilowatt-hours in six weeks.

Aside from physical and economic issues, Golec told the group, there are the bureaucratic hurdles. The rural electric co-ops are generally easy to work with. But crossing federal land and dealing with water court and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission can be time consuming. Environmentally, Golec suggested diverting half or less of the water in a natural stream so as to protect the ecology. A ditch, of course, could be totally diverted into a turbine since its water has already been diverted from a stream. And town water systems face fewer problems because the water is already in pipes.

Golec is writing a manual for the Governor’s Energy Office that will lay out a general approach to evaluating and building a system. He said it’s a very old technology. “The miners called it ‘white coal’ and its 100-plus years old.”

DMEA’s Marston said the trip went so well he hopes to organize a second one if the DMEA board and staff agree it makes sense. “We had a great group, but we missed a lot of people. The Monday date meant the Delta County commissioners couldn’t come. And on the trip I learned how important NRCS is. That’s the federal outfit that has helped many irrigators put their water in pipes. Once water is in a pipe, it’s much cheaper to install a generator. So NRCS cooperation will be important. “Plus, there are probably hundreds of landowners and ditch companies in DMEA’s service territory with the potential to generate hydroelectric power. And then there’s our co-op neighbors. We had two staff members from Gunnison Electric Cooperative Association join us.”

Those on the tour included DMEA General Manager Dan McClendon, DMEA Assistant General Manager Steve Metheny, small farms CSU extension agent Ed Page, Fire Mountain Canal board member John Burgevin, rancher Dion Luke, consultant Mary Chapman, Delta Conservation District president Eric Jessen, Paonia mayor Neal Schwieterman, DMEA board members Gary Richardson and Mike Sramek, rancher Julie Littlefield, farmer Reg Cridler, and Vicki Spencer, the Energy Use/Communication Specialist for Gunnison County Electric Association.

For further information, contact Ed Marston at (970) 261-2737, or at edhmarston@paonia.com.