Led by Scully '94, Students Propose Local Hydropower Projects
Hydropower developer Bill Scully ’94 is working with ¿ÐýÃŹÙÍø students on two new power generation projects in the village of North ¿ÐýÃŹÙÍø.
The initiative, which proposes to create hydropower facilities at existing dams at Lake Paran and downstream on Paran Creek, grew from a ¿ÐýÃŹÙÍø course taught last year by Scully and Susan Sgorbati, director of the Center for the Advancement of Public Action (CAPA).
The course, originally inspired by the discovery of PFOA (perfluorooctanoic acid) contamination in wells surrounding the former ChemFab Corp. factory in North ¿ÐýÃŹÙÍø, evolved into the Paran Creek Watershed Project—in which several student task forces conudcted a feasibility study for hydro facilities at the two sites.
According to the watershed project's statement of purpose, its goal "is to support the village's long-term stewardship of renewable water resources, clean contaminants to improve the aquatic and riverine habitat, establish North ¿ÐýÃŹÙÍø as a model for energy independence and form a sustainable, long term watershed management plan by revitalizing existing infrastructure."
North ¿ÐýÃŹÙÍø officials have approved applications to FERC for preliminary permits, which would grant the permit-holder priority to file federal hydro facility license applications, the ¿ÐýÃŹÙÍø Banner reports.