Hydro proposed for reservoir dams.

Byline: JOE HARWOOD The Register-Guard

A Utah-based company looking to cash in on future energy price increases is considering building hydroelectric power generators on flood control dams at Cottage Grove, Dorena, Fall Creek and Fern Ridge reservoirs.

Symbiotics LLC has filed preliminary permit applications with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission for the projects. The company proposes to build small turbines that would range from 1.1 megawatts in generating capacity at Cottage Grove to 4 megawatts at Fall Creek.

By comparison, the Eugene Water & Electric Board hydropower facility on the McKenzie River at Walterville houses a 9 megawatt turbine. A 10 megawatt facility generally produces enough electricity to power 2,000 homes.

The projects would include installing transmission lines from the dams to the electrical grid. The line from the Cottage Grove reservoir, for example, would run five miles.

If Symbiotics proceeds with the complicated licensing process, its plans are likely to spark opposition from fisheries and environmental groups, as well as from property owners in the path of the transmission lines.

Whether the dams will ever generate a single watt of electricity is far from clear.

New hydropower facilities are exceptionally expensive, require studies that consider environmental and water quality impacts, and take years to license, said Marty Douglass, an EWEB spokesman.

"It's one thing to file for a permit," Douglass said. "It's quite another to get a license."

The dams in question are owned by the federal government and used for flood control and recreation; they currently have no power generators.

Hart Evans, spokesman for Symbiotics, said the company is prepared for the long haul. "From the time you submit the preliminary permit to the the time you plug it in to the grid, you're looking at at least five years," he said. "It could take as long as 10 years."

Evans said the company is looking for private investors or even utilities to help fund the projects, which can cost $6 million or more for a small turbine. "It's kind of hard to find people to invest that kind of money for a return they won't see for 10 or 12 years," he conceded.

Aside from the licensing hassles, a key for Symbiotics will be whether the upfront capital costs can be justified by the revenues the company would get from selling the electricity.

Symbiotics was formed in the winter of 2001, following the California energy crisis that shot West Coast open market power rates into the stratosphere.

"We knew the price of electricity would continue to go up and saw it would be feasible to do some hydro projects," Evans said. The company figures tapping into the water flow at existing dams is a relatively low-impact way of harnessing a non-polluting supply of energy.

Symbiotics principals are Brent Smith, president of Northwest Power Services Inc. of Rigby, Idaho, which operates six hydroelectric projects in Idaho and Montana; and Vincent Lamarra, director of Ecosystems Research Institute Inc., an environmental consulting firm based in Logan, Utah.

Evans said the company surveyed the West looking for existing dams suitable for hydroelectric projects. The study identified hundreds of potential sites.

The company has thus far filed for approximately 175 preliminary permits in 16 states, with the largest concentration in California, Oregon and Washington, according to the federal energy agency. Evans said the company wants to establish small hydroelectric facilities across the West to ease seasonal supply shortages.

In addition to the county proposals, Symbiotics is considering building a hydroelectric generator on the Applegate Dam southwest of Medford, and three in Eastern Oregon.

Evans said the company will not be able to follow through on all of its preliminary permits, which expire three years after filing. The permits give an applicant time to conduct economic feasibility, environmental and other studies required by state and federal law, said Celeste Miller, a spokeswoman with FERC. The process also involves public comment periods and hearings.

"The important thing to stress is the permit doesn't authorize construction," Miller said. Symbiotics would have to submit an application to develop any of the projects.

Evans said the company hopes to begin its feasibility studies for the Lane County projects within 12 months. He said the turbines on the dams would be small and "benign" enough that they should have little or no impact on the environment, water quality or fish.

EWEB in the late 1970s looked at dozens of potential hydroelectric sites in Oregon, including Fall Creek, but never built any because they were not economically feasible, said Scott Spettel, the utility's power management and planning manager.

"We found the costs were fairly prohibitive and we also had some fisheries concerns," Spettel said. "I would be surprised if any of these projects (proposed by Symbiotics) were found to be economically feasible."

Spettel said the utility still holds a valid license to build a 15 megawatt turbine at Blue River Reservoir on the McKenzie, but hasn't proceeded because of the estimated $30 million price tag. "It's just too expensive," he said.