Appalachian Power will receive $5 million in federal funding to upgrade its Claytor hydroelectric plant on the New River in Pulaski County.
Virginia’s second-largest electric utility will use the money to help pay for replacing original equipment on two of the 75-megawatt plant’s four turbine-generator units. Improvements on one unit were finished last year, and work on the other is expected to be complete this year, said Appalachian Power spokesperson George Porter.
To receive the money, Appalachian Power must meet the requirements of the federal Maintaining and Enhancing Hydroelectricity Incentive program, which aims to improve dam safety, enhance the reliability of the electric grid and protect jobs, according to the Department of Energy. The program is funded by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.
“We are excited about the opportunity to use this infrastructure funding in innovative ways to enhance and improve our customer service,” Porter said. “Our customers will benefit from increased electric service reliability and reduced costs, and the aquatic ecosystem of the New River downstream of the Claytor facility will benefit from improved water quality.”
The project is one of 293 in 33 states chosen to receive $430 million in all, the DOE said Thursday. The department said it anticipates announcing another round of funding next year.
In February, Appalachian’s Byllesby hydroelectric facility on the New River in Carroll County was selected to get $2.1 million in federal money. The utility will put it toward replacing one of four turbine-generator units, which will allow the plant to produce more electricity with the same volume of water.
The DOE said that hydropower accounts for 27% of renewable energy in the U.S. but that many facilities are aging and need repairs and upgrades. Renewable energy — including solar, wind and hydroelectric power — comprises 9% of the energy used by Appalachian Power’s Virginia customers, according to the utility’s website.
The Claytor facility has been generating electricity since its dam was built at Claytor Lake in 1939. The Byllesby plant and its companion facility, Buck, which sits 3 miles downstream on the New River, were built in 1912; together the pair have a generating capacity of about 30 megawatts.
“As our earliest form of renewable energy generation, hydropower has reliably kept America running for almost 150 years — and the Biden-Harris Administration is ensuring these long-standing facilities can continue the steady flow of clean power,” U.S. Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm said in a news release.
Approximately eight Appalachian employees support the operation and maintenance of the three New River hydroelectric plants, Porter said.
Virginia has 25 conventional hydroelectric plants, including the ones in Pulaski and Carroll counties, and two pumped-storage plants, which generate electricity by flowing water from an elevated reservoir to a lower one during periods of peak demand; the water is then pumped back up to the higher reservoir during off-peak times.
Conventional hydroelectric plants account for less than 2% of Virginia’s total electricity generation, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. The pumped-storage plants in Bath County and at Smith Mountain Lake consume more energy than they produce, but their purpose is to generate electricity during peak-demand periods.