Power, But With $5.3 - Million Punch

Power, but with $5.3-million punch

By Chong W. Pyen

CITY GOVERNMENT REPORTER

Reactivating the four hydroelectric dams along the Huron River, all owned by the City of Ann Arbor, can mean both energy and profits, but the investment will exceed $5.3 million, the City Council was told Monday.

Robert A. Barnes, senior partner with the engineering firm of Ayres, Lewis, Norris & May, presented a feasibility report and gave more realistic cost estimates than in an initial report completed last year.

The dams - Barton Dam, Argo Dam, Geddes Dam and Superior Dam - can have a combined capacity of 2,190 kilowatts if properly equipped and generate 9.2 million kilowatt hours per year, the report said. At three cents per kilowatt hour, the annual revenue could reach $286,389 the first year.

But the capital cost, totaling $5,334,000, has to be paid through the sale of bonds, and after principal and interest, the first year operation will be $392,707 in the red, according to the report.

BARTON DAM which has the highest head and an existing powerhouse in good condition, is the most “attractive” of the four sites, and yet faces eight years of deficit operation. Superior Dam is the second favorable site and will have a negative cash flow for the first 11 years, the engineers concluded.

There are few options for marketing. Detroit Edison may be the sole potential buyer of the city-produced electricity, council was told, and the only other way of consuming the energy will be use by the city.

Environmentally, the impact of the dam projects would bature of the projects and the environmental setting,” the report said.

Council passed a resolution directing the administration to begin negotiations with Detroit Edison and other potential regulation clearance.

Map locates sites of four hydroelectric dams