Best Hydroelectric Power Plant Cary Near Me

4worldlovers: The Jordan Hydroelectric Project is the first hydropower facility of its kind in the country, using vertical turbines installed on an intake tower at a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers flood control dam. It involves the installation of two conventional vertical Kaplan turbine-generators, each with a capacity of 2.2 MW under 57.5 feet of gross head and flow of 550 cubic feet per second, installed in a 180-ton steel enclosure (power module) that seals (like a headgate) to the upstream side of the tower’s intake. Due to the adjustable nature of the design, power can be generated nearly 95% of the time without sacrificing any of the normal or flood control capabilities of the dam.

The project was completed at an economically installed cost of approximately $2,300 per kW inclusive of all development, design, equipment, and construction costs (construction of a hydroelectric project in a new powerhouse at an existing dam typically has an installed cost of $4,000 to $5,000 per kW). The lower installed cost for the project is the direct result of not needing to construct significant civil works to house the power generating equipment. The average annual generation is estimated at 16,900 MWH, with the project producing enough electric power for 1,700 homes. The project developed an untapped power source of an existing dam which since 1982 could have generated 500,000 MWH.

The Jordan Dam was constructed in 1982 as a flood control dam without hydroelectric generating capacity. Located in Moncure, NC, 25 miles southwest of Raleigh, the main dam is a rock-filled structure 113 feet high and 1,200 feet long, owned and operated by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) for purposes of flood control and maintaining water quality of the Haw River.

Licensing of the hydroelectric project with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) began in 1993, with a license received in 1997. The initial concept was for an 8.0 MW project consisting of two Power Modules with eight to ten small horizontal turbines in a matrix arrangement. The license was amended in 2006 for the current two-unit, 4.4 MW hydroelectric project after it was determined that the original arrangement had a number of technical challenges associated with it.

The project developer and design team faced several challenges including that the design and operation of the project had to comply with USACE design and operational requirements. Paramount of the design and operational requirements was that the project could have no effect on USACE’s control of flow releases or operation of the tower and negligible modifications would be allowed to the discharge tower.

The slender, torsionally light Power Modules also had to resist or transfer to the intake tower the rotational torque developed when generating power; a torque that for conventional powerhouses is typically resisted by anchor bolts and mass concrete. Under normal operation, the generator develops a torque of 51,250 foot-pounds and a short circuit torque of 243,000 foot-pounds. The USACE also expressed concerns for the transmittal of vibrations into the tower from the mass of the rotating equipment.

The requirement of minimum impact to the tower coupled with the low load capacity of the existing structures also presented challenges to the engineering team’s design and installation plans. Final modifications to structural elements of the discharge tower only required the removal of a parapet wall at the top of the tower along the upstream side, and removal of two 13 foot square by 3 feet thick underwater sections of concrete that formed the top of the existing concrete grizzly racks. Structural analyses of the access bridge from the dam crest to the top of the discharge tower indicated that the bridge has a sufficient structural capacity of 250 tons. However, analyses indicated that the discharge tower roof, which was designed to support a 35 ton truck crane transporting a 12 ton load, did not have the capacity to support the weight of a 90-ton rough terrain crane and the loads to be lifted.

In addition, a survey of the plumbness and squareness of the bulkhead slots taken at one foot increments over the height of the tower from invert to roof revealed another challenge for the designers. The distance between piers was narrower than shown on record drawings and the slots were neither plumb nor square to the tower.

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