WATER DISTRICT JOINS POWER EFFORT.Byline: Jim Skeen Staff Writer PALMDALE - Prompted by California's power woes, the Palmdale Water District is considering reviving a Lake Palmdale hydropower hy·dro·pow·er n. Hydroelectric power. generator and starting other electricity-generating operations. The district is looking at using the power to meet its own needs and the possibility of selling surplus electricity to others. ``The main thing we're concerned about is reliability for our customers,'' said Dennis LaMoreaux, general manager of the water district. ``In this crisis, publicly owned Publicly owned can refer to:
The hydro-electric generator, which produced about 150 kilowatts using water flowing into the lake, ran for six to seven years before being closed down in 1996. The operation was halted because equipment maintenance costs outweighed revenue, officials said. District officials want to see if new equipment might make that operation more efficient. The district also is exploring other power-generating options, including wind power, solar energy solar energy, any form of energy radiated by the sun, including light, radio waves, and X rays, although the term usually refers to the visible light of the sun. and the possibility of establishing its own power plant. The district may issue two requests for proposals within the next few weeks - one for restarting the Lake Palmdale hydropower generator and the other for hiring a consultant to advise the district on power-generating operations. The district is installing two $500 wind-meter stations to help determine the practicality of investing in wind turbines. ``We're probably too late for the problem we have now, but we don't want to get stuck in the same situation again,'' LaMoreaux said. The Antelope Valley-East Kern Kern, river, 155 mi (249 km) long, rising in the S Sierra Nevada Mts., E Calif., and flowing south, then southwest to a reservoir in the extreme southern part of the San Joaquin valley. The river has Isabella Dam as its chief facility. Water Agency also is interested in exploring energy generation, perhaps in conjunction with the Palmdale Water District and the Littlerock Creek Irrigation irrigation, in agriculture, artificial watering of the land. Although used chiefly in regions with annual rainfall of less than 20 in. (51 cm), it is also used in wetter areas to grow certain crops, e.g., rice. District. ``It might make more sense as a combined effort,'' said AVEK board member George Lane George Lane (born 1940 ) is a British "mental calculator" and author. He is a three-times world champion and one of only three Grandmasters of Mental Calculation, as recognised by the Mind Sports Organisation. . ``This is just in its infancy stages. We've just talked about it, there are no details.'' AVEK has looked at starting power-generating operations in the past, but they were deemed not to be cost effective at the time, Lane said. That was when electricity could be purchased for about 6 cents per kilowatt hour Kil´o`watt` hour 1. (Elec.) A unit of work or energy equal to that done by one kilowatt acting for one hour; - approximately equal to 1.34 horse-power hour. Noun 1. , not the wholesale rates that have hit 30 cents in recent weeks. One possibility, Lane said, is to use irrigation water flowing out of the California Aqueduct The California Aqueduct is a 444 mile (715 km)-long[1] aqueduct in the United States that carries water from Northern California to Southern California. in the far west valley to turn a hydroelectric turbine. |
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