Dive Brief:
- Hamilton, Ohio, is entering the last stages of construction on a 105-MW hydropower project on the Ohio River in Kentucky. The Meldahl plant, being developed with American Municipal Power (AMP), is the largest of several hydro stations being built simultaneously at existing dam sites along the Ohio River. Hamilton has rights to 51% of the facility.
- The plant's zero-fossil fuel benefits are clear, but also "I would expect to see stability in the (electric) rates versus the volatile swings we have seen," said Steve Sackenheim of Matandy Steel and Metal Products, a local steel processor and city utility customer.
- Hamilton owns generation assets, with ownership stakes in five power plants in Butler County, elsewhere in Ohio, in Illinois and Meldahl under construction in northern Kentucky. Once Meldahl opens, 65% to 70% of the city's power will come from green energy sources.
Dive Insight:
AMP has been developing hydro projects with and for some of its member municipal utilities and cooperatives. Some of this development, which federal and state officials have encouraged as relatively low-hanging fruit, helps "green" the communities and may help offset the burden some AMP members took on with participation in the Prairie State Energy Campus, a 1,600-MW coal project that went way over budget, to nearly $5 billion, and now is saddling some munis with painfully high power costs under long contracts.
