>Dennis Jon
Northern States Power (now Xcel
>Energy) currently operates a 12 megawatt hydroelectric facility on the
>Mississippi River at Hennepin Island (adjacent to St. Anthony Falls on
>the north side of the river). According to NSP's web site, they've
>operated at or near the St. Anthony Falls site since 1923.
Warning--the following is all from memory but I do have an (old) electrical
engineering degreee <grin>
I don't remember the date but the first hydro electric plant in the western
hemisphere was at St. Anthony Falls (West side of the river though). There
is a historic marker about it just across Main Street from Tuggs Bar.
NSP was also operating a hydro facility at the lower St. Anthony Falls (I
think it was about 40 MW--megawatt). I don't know if that plant is still
operating. Also, the Ford Plant owns the dam right below the 46th St (Mpls)
Ford Parkway bridge and operate a small hydro facilty there.
To put this capaicty in perspective, The Sherco Coal plant on the
Mississippi has three gerating facilities of about 800 MW each. The Alan S
King Coal Plant on the St.Croix is between 300 and 600 MW. The power
capacity of the supply to the average house is 24 KW (or 0.024 MW).
Assuming that at peak use a house uses about half of that capacity, the 12
MW capacity at the falls would power 1000 homes.
NSP did have a proposal to expand the capacity of the St. Anthony Falls to
something under 100 MW. The problem was that for a significant part of the
summer, fall and winter, ALL the water going over the falls would be
diverted to the hydro faclity.
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sheldon mains seward neighborhood minneapolis [EMAIL PROTECTED]
the shameless agitator in the electronic town square
yes, i really am running for library board. check
http://www.shamelessagitator.org for details.
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