Renewable energy boosted as Northern Power & Light takes over hydropower plant in remote part of the Adirondacks
By Zachary Matson
The powerhouse at Stillwater Dam would serve well as a bunker. The nondescript, concrete exterior belies the vast volume inside.
With Adirondack bedrock forming half the wall, the interior includes a deep void stretching down into the earth.
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“This is the powerhouse, it’s a big hole in the ground,” said Emmett Smith, whose company Northern Power & Light took over operations of the hydropower plant in the fall.
The plant’s depth is necessary to reach water levels at the 6,700-acre Stillwater Reservoir, expanded to its current size in the 1920s. The spinning generator sits at the bottom of the deep well and below it, hidden from view, is a series of gates that controls the water flows that power the plant’s electricity generation.
During a visit in May, the generator was producing 1,300 kilowatts of power from the water flowing at 400 cubic feet per second through the powerhouse. The flows are strictly controlled by the Hudson River-Black River Regulating District, which manages the dam and reservoir to control flooding on the Beaver and Black rivers.
The state agency owns the dam, reservoir and, as of last year, the powerhouse now leased to Northern Power & Light. Stillwater Associates in 1985 built the powerhouse on land leased to it by the state. The original agreement with the state expired in recent years and included a provision that required the regulating district to purchase the powerhouse if there was no extension to the agreement. The contract expired without a deal, and the regulating district, which isn’t authorized to produce electricity itself, solicited proposals from potential operators. Two offers came in, and the district contracted with Northern Power & Light last summer.
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The district manages releases to align with flood patterns in the Black River basin, typically lowering water levels from late-summer through the winter to create storage space for the spring runoff. A base flow is maintained for fisheries and numerous downstream hydropower operations.
“There is definitely a significant role in supporting the production of renewable energy, especially in the Adirondack Park,” said John Callaghan, executive director of the regulating district.
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Saranac Lake-based Northern Power & Light works to connect consumers to local power generation, selling shares in the power production of dams owned and operated by others. With Stillwater, the company is now operating its first powerhouse.
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“We are still learning the place,” Smith said. “We’ve had a lot to go through and figure out and fix.”
Smith hired a father-son team from the Lowville area to manage repairs and day-to-day operations at the plant. It took a couple of weeks to get the plant back up and running after they took over.
“We did a lot of troubleshooting,” said Mike Lisk, who with his son, Alex, runs a repair business specializing in hydro plant operations. “There were a lot of troubles.”
They tightened wire connections, cleaned bearings, removed dead animals, cleaned filters, cleared water lines and repaired hydraulics. They are continuing to work on automating the plant’s operations, so that adjustments can be made from a phone or computer in Saranac Lake or Lowville.
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Larger upgrades would include a new programmable logic controller, the rugged computer system that keeps the powerhouse running, and fixes to the excitation system that facilitates electrical currents.
If they can get it up and running more efficiently, the electricity generation will bring in revenue to reinvest in the facility. In time, Smith hopes for a tidy powerplant maximizing the flows diverted to it by the regulating district.
“Right now it’s basically operational stuff, then it will be cosmetic stuff,” Alex Lisk said. “Mechanically, I think we are in good shape.”
The economic viability of the Stillwater plant is bolstered by a longstanding power purchase agreement with National Grid. The utility is committed to purchasing electricity produced at Stillwater at rates much higher than what Northern Power & Light would get on the open market.
“It’s better than you would get now,” Smith said of the deal. He said the rate he is guaranteed on the power purchase agreement is almost twice the price he would likely get from current market rates.
Smith has advocated for state policy to support existing small hydropower operations, which he argued are exporting much of their renewable energy out of New York because of better policy in nearby states.
After the power purchase agreement expires in a few years, Smith could convert Stillwater to the state’s community distributed generation program. Hydropower generators earn a bonus of sorts through that program for producing renewable energy, which New York needs as it aims to transition to a carbon-neutral economy.
The community generation model is similar to a homeowner putting solar panels on a roof that feeds the grid and credits their total use. But instead of buying solar panels, you buy a share of the generation of your local hydro plant.
“Not everyone has a roof,” Smith said.
The lease at Stillwater runs through June 2030, around the time the power purchase agreement also expires. The contract with the regulating district contemplates a long-term extension if the economic math works without the elevated rates guaranteed by the power purchasing contract.
Until then, Smith and the Lisks will be working to maximize the controlled flows of Stillwater Reservoir. A short distance down the road from the dam, the Stillwater Hotel appears to be the lone option for a meal. A collection of bird feeders enticed a show of hummingbirds separated from the dining room only by glass and a few inches. A “For Sale” attempts to entice the next owner. Marian Romano, who bought the hotel in 1988, and operates it and the restaurant with her husband, Joe, said the sign has been up for 10 years. She was happy to meet the hydro plant’s new operators.
“We should invest in that,” she said of the facility. “We are blessed to have so much water.”
Excellent article!!!! Indeed, building NEW dams would be virtually impossible today, but making existing infrastructure safer, more efficient, and perhaps more potential for migration of aquatic life would be money well spent. Expenditures for upgrading and enhancing current (no pun intended) hydro infrastructure are not sexy, but a reasonable way to bolster the power grid without adding more controversial generation and transmission infrastructure within the Park.
2025 is Stillwater Dam’s centennial. This dam, the fourth on the Beaver River at Stillwater, was completed in 1925.