(Updated, 2 p.m.)
PROVIDENCE – The R.I. Department of Environmental Management has asked for permission to find a developer willing to operate an existing hydroelectric turbine on the Blackstone River in Central Falls.
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In a memo, the department told the R.I. State Properties Committee it wants a company to restart the hydroelectric facility, located on a parcel of land off Roosevelt Avenue next to the old Elizabeth Webbing Mills textile plant, which closed in 2001. The Roosevelt Hydro Electric Co. stopped operating the hydroelectric facility the same year.
The State Properties Committee is expected to vote on the request Tuesday.
The state purchased the Elizabeth Webbing property, including Pantex Dam, in March with the intent to construct a fish ladder. But DEM Director Michael Sullivan told Providence Business News his agency wanted to avoid the estimated $500,000 cost of constructing the ladder.
Sullivan would like a hydro operator to pay for the construction and maintenance of the ladder in exchange for the right to keep the profits from the generated electricity. The contractor would also pick up the estimated $20,000 to $30,000 a year in maintenance costs.
“I view it more, not so much as a savings, but as an avoided cost,” Sullivan said.
Sullivan said a private contractor could also take advantage of tax credits for renewable-energy projects which are not available to the state. The market for electricity has also changed since the plant shut down in 2001, he said.
Sullivan said DEM would only approve a plan that did not negatively impact the environment or recreation along the river.
If no one bites at the proposal, Sullivan said DEM would likely lower the dam by about 2 feet to allow fish to pass. That option is less expensive than building a fish ladder.
A fish passage over the Pantex Dam would continue a DEM effort to improve passage for the Blackstone River’s fish. The department has persuaded the owners of two other dams along the river to construct fish ladders.
