BANGOR, Maine - As energy prices soar, people and businesses alike are looking for big changes in the way they make and use energy.
Some are finding these big changes are coming in small packages.
“With Maine’ s lakes, streams and ponds there are hundreds, maybe thousands, of great venues for microhydro,” said Frank Heller, owner and operator of Katahdin Energy Works in Brunswick.
Instead of using a dam to create energy, microhydro uses piping to divert water from a pond or stream. The water is brought to a vertical drop, or head, and falls onto the microhydro system, spinning a turbine, which in turn creates energy that is stored in a battery. The amount of energy created depends on the flow, or gallons per minute, flowing through the stream and the vertical drop. The water then continues back into its original flow.
“It is like the waterwheels the old sawmills used to use,” Heller said.
Heller said a $3,000 unit can provide between 1 and 3 kilowatts of energy an hour for a home, depending on the stream or river.
The typical Bangor Hydro-Electric Co. residential customer uses 500 kwh per month, according to Bangor Hydro communications specialist Matthew Chabe.
“The typical residential customer bill is $90 a month and $1,080 a year in total electricity charges,” he said.
Microhydro units can generate more than 700 kwh a month, 200 kwh more than the typical Bangor Hydro customer uses.
“And that is pretty much lifetime electricity,” said Heller.
Paul Cunningham of New Brunswick has been making the systems since 1980 and founded his own company, Energy Systems and Design. He has installed microhydro units throughout Canada and in several states.
A battery bank and power inverter are required in some models and can bring total costs to between $6,000 and $10,000, he said.
“It is still very affordable,” Cunningham said, comparing that price with the price of solar or wind energy, which can be between $15,000 and $20,000.
The Bangor Water District has caught on to the idea and installed a microhydro unit to replace a redundant release valve in its system.
The district receives its water from Floods Pond in Otis. Water is pumped to a high point of 415 feet above sea level, where it is treated, and then gravity is used to bring the water to the Bangor area. When the water gets to Veazie, pressure is reduced 45 pounds per square inch, from 130 to 85 psi, with a pair of release valves.
“That reduction was just wasted energy,” said Wes Haskell, assistant general manager for the water district.
So officials decided to install a microhydro unit.
The turbine is larger than the residential units Heller supplies and is expected to create up to 70 kilowatts of energy an hour. Haskell expects the energy to be sold back to the electric grid.
“It will really offset prices and keep consumer rates as low as possible,” he said.
But for all its potential, the microhydro system sits dormant in the water district due to tough permit regulations surrounding microhydro.
“We’ ve been ready to go since the fall,” said Haskell. “We hoped to have been up and running and producing energy by now.”
The Maine Department of Environmental Protection issues permits for the state, but developers must also get a license from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.
According to Haskell, the water district applied for a FERC license in July 2007 and has been waiting for approval since.
“The state permit only took three weeks,” he said. “I thought it would just be a mechanical instrument we were putting in to replace a valve, but nope.”
The commission looks at the environmental and economic impacts a potential hydropower installation would create and the need for the power, according to Celeste Miller, a spokeswoman for FERC.
“Our goal is to make a decision that is in the public interest,” she said. “We take those three categories in equal weight.”
According to Miller, the Bangor Water District’ s license is still pending.
Dana Merch of the DEP reviews state permit applications for microhydro units and must look at impacts the units will have on fish, wildlife and the body of water itself.
“It is very site-specific,” he said. “Some rivers might have a lot of fish that would be affected, others might have none at all. We also have to look at possible erosion problems and what impact the actual construction will have on the environment.”
Merch said he has received no requests for residential microhydro permits this year, which he defines as units that produce less than 100 kwh of power, and gets only an average of one a year for commercial units.
Heller said he receives many inquiries about the power source, but people are turned off by the permit process.
“People are discouraged by the fact that there are so many regulations surrounding installation,” he said. “The red tape isn’ t unnecessary either, but if they could simplify it, it would make things easier.
“This is as reliable an energy source as any other, and usually more affordable,” he said. “Soon people won’ t be able to afford not to look into renewable energy.”