Auburn's municipal power agency voted Wednesday afternoon to recommend that a study of the hydroelectric potential of the state dam gets under way.
If Auburn City Council approves the measure, Acres International Corp., a Canadian engineering consulting firm, will determine the feasibility of using a turbine to generate electricity from the Pulsifer Drive-area dam to power the city's nearby water filtration plant and the lower and upper pumping stations.
The study, which will also determine if the turbine would be cost-effective, will cost the city $13,780.
"If we can create electricity to run the plant," said Frank DeOrio, Auburn's director of municipal utilities, "we can get it off the grid and save a lot of money."
It costs the city more than $350,000 yearly to power the plant, and city officials believe it will take just a few years, with electricity savings, to pay back the cost of the $1.5 million turbine project.
In 1992, Acres International determined the turbine wouldn't generate enough electricity to make it cost-effective.
New technology has changed all of that, and the power agency, with its vote, considers the project a top priority on its lists of recommendations.
The agency is responsible for prioritizing energy issues, recommending alternative energy purchases to city council, buying wholesale energy on the open markets, negotiating for the use of New York State Electric & Gas' substations and transmission lines and securing funds for all of the matters.
The agency also endorsed a study to determine the benefits of building a community digester that could be used by both the city and Cayuga County.
Auburn city councilors will vote today on whether to hire the Leesburg, Va.-based ECO Technology Solutions to study if cow manure and food wastes can be turned into methane gas and then electricity at the landfill. The cost of the study is $75,000. Auburn's share, which would come out of the general fund, would be $18,750, the same as the county's. The remaining costs will be covered by a grant through the state Energy Research and Development Authority. DeOrio said the plant would be odorless.
Staff writer Benning W. De La Mater can be reached at 253-5311 ext. 237 or ben.delamater@lee.net
The study, which will also determine if the turbine would be cost-effective, will cost the city $13,780.
"If we can create electricity to run the plant," said Frank DeOrio, Auburn's director of municipal utilities, "we can get it off the grid and save a lot of money."
It costs the city more than $350,000 yearly to power the plant, and city officials believe it will take just a few years, with electricity savings, to pay back the cost of the $1.5 million turbine project.
In 1992, Acres International determined the turbine wouldn't generate enough electricity to make it cost-effective.
New technology has changed all of that, and the power agency, with its vote, considers the project a top priority on its lists of recommendations.
The agency is responsible for prioritizing energy issues, recommending alternative energy purchases to city council, buying wholesale energy on the open markets, negotiating for the use of New York State Electric & Gas' substations and transmission lines and securing funds for all of the matters.
The agency also endorsed a study to determine the benefits of building a community digester that could be used by both the city and Cayuga County.
Auburn city councilors will vote today on whether to hire the Leesburg, Va.-based ECO Technology Solutions to study if cow manure and food wastes can be turned into methane gas and then electricity at the landfill. The cost of the study is $75,000. Auburn's share, which would come out of the general fund, would be $18,750, the same as the county's. The remaining costs will be covered by a grant through the state Energy Research and Development Authority. DeOrio said the plant would be odorless.
Staff writer Benning W. De La Mater can be reached at 253-5311 ext. 237 or ben.delamater@lee.net
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