News
News Releases New hydro power project brings Lab closer to goals
A new 3-megawatt turbine is now running at the Abiquiu hydro power facility.
April 25, 2011—Nearly half of LANL's renewable energy goals for 2013 will be met, thanks to a new low-flow hydroelectric turbine now running at Los Alamos County's Abiquiu power facility. A low-flow turbine allows the facility to keep generating power even when flow levels from the dam are below the capacity of the two existing turbines.
The project received a $4.5 million Recovery Act grant from the Department of Energy’s Wind and Water Power Program, which was leveraged with $4.5 million from the private sector to fully fund the project. The low-flow turbine will increase renewable energy generation capacity by 22 percent at the Abiquiu facility—from 13.8 megawatts to 16.8 megawatts. The new turbine will produce enough energy to power 1,100 homes annually.
New Mexico Senator Tom Udall officially started the new turbine during a ceremony Thursday (April 21). It's the first Recovery Act-funded hydro project to reach completion in the United States.
Learn more in this news release from DOE.
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