Energy Consulting Firm to City : DON'T Turn Dam back on !

Proposed St. Joe River power plant questioned

By LOU MUMFORD Tribune Staff Writer
Publication: South Bend Tribune (Indiana)
Date: Sunday, December 27 2009

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NILES - Go with the flow? Officials at Niles' French Paper Co. are hoping the Niles City Council resists the idea.

The flow relates to that of the St. Joseph River, which in conjunction with the paper manufacturer's dam and power plant has provided the company with the bulk of its electricity since 1922.

It's the river's flow just above the dam that concerns the firm, particularly in light of a recent consultant's report related to the possibility of the city generating its own power on the river.

At one time, Niles indeed did produce electricity, at a dam on the Dowagiac River, north of Niles. But the Pucker Street hydro plant hasn't been used in 15 years, and the consultant, Matthew Dunlap, a mechanical engineer for Kleinschmidt Energy & Water Resource Consultants in Strasburg, Pa., warned that putting it back into operation would not be a good economic opportunity.

Dunlap told the council at a workshop session last month that building a new power plant on city-owned property adjacent to the French Paper Dam in partnership with French Paper would be more feasible. Still, the cost would be high, varying from $10.8 million to $14.7 million depending on the plant's size, and it would take the city 18 to 27 years to generate enough electricity to recoup its investment, the consultant said.

As for the flow on the same stretch of river where French Paper operates its power plant, Dunlap referred to the area as "a more marginal site" based on the river's "low head." He didn't dismiss the idea, however, pointing out that tax credits make such a project "potentially viable."

But as he did at last month's council workshop, Jerry French, the French Paper president, questioned last week whether there's sufficient flow to support two power plants. He was critical of Dunlap for studying only the last 20 years of flow rather than a much longer term over which French Paper has compiled extensive records.