Taylor Park hydropower study about to begin

Will it make economic sense?

More than a half dozen firms are asking the Upper Gunnison River Water Conservancy District (UGRWCD) for a chance to figure out what it would cost to build a hydroelectric power plant at the Taylor Park Dam.

An official price tag for the proposed hydropower project should be on the table by the end of the year, leaving the decision of whether or not to move forward on the project up to the Gunnison County Electric Association (GCEA).
“We received nine proposals for conducting the Taylor Park hydropower feasibility study,” says UGRWCD manager Frank Kugel. “We are pleased with both the quantity and quality of the responses,” He says eight of the firms have offices in Colorado.
Kugel says he expects the water district to select a firm by early September.
Following the selection of a firm, “The feasibility study should hopefully be done sometime this fall,” Kugel says.
In October 2008 the Colorado Water Resources and Power Development Authority offered a $15,000 matching grant (for a total of $30,000) for entities willing to study potential small-scale hydropower projects across the state.
Hearing this, the UGRWCD invited several members of a hydropower-engineering firm from the Front Range here for a quick tour of the Gunnison Valley to see if the local waterways had any potential. The engineers from TCB Aecomm said the Taylor Park Dam could be easily outfitted with a hydroelectric generator capable of generating one megawatt of electricity.
Following the tour, the UGRWCD met with representatives from GCEA and the Uncompahgre Valley Water Users Association (which holds rights to the water in Taylor Park Reservoir) and the three entities agreed to split the cost of the matching grant and to be partners in the feasibility study.
If the feasibility study shows potential for an efficient, low-cost hydroelectric generator at the Taylor Dam, the UGRWCD will step back and GCEA will oversee the construction, generation and sale of power from Taylor Dam.
GCEA chief executive officer Mike Wells says, “I’ll take those numbers to our board. At some point GCEA would probably be taking the lead on construction.”
Wells says GCEA will probably look around for grant opportunities and other funding avenues to help cover the cost of the project. “The board is going to be asking me the tough question. Where is the funding going to come from?” he says.
 “My biggest concern is they’re going to come back and say, ‘Yes, it’s feasible, but it’s going to cost $5 million or more,’” Wells says. He says there would have to be a swift and hefty payback from operating the hydropower plant to accept such a large up-front cost.
 “We’re really excited. We’d like to think that something would work out. But we have to keep our fingers crossed to see if it makes economic sense. That’s the key element.”