From The Mineral County Miner:
“We wanted to ask the basic questions first,” Irrigation District Superintendent Travis Smith told the Rio Grande Interbasin Roundtable on Tuesday. He said the results of two previous hydro feasibility studies completed on the reservoir in the last 40 years showed that hydro would not pay for itself without reservoir repair and other changes…
Technical Consultant Kelly DiNatale discussed the hydropower feasibility analysis performed so far. He looked at the potential for generating 500 kilowatts and 2 megawatts . The 500 KW hydro generation would supply enough power for the local area through the existing transmission line while 2 MW would provide for local needs plus power that could be exported via Rural Electric Cooperative, DiNatale said. He said the Rio Grande Reservoir has about 90 feet of net head to work with when it is full (54,000 acre feet), and if 70 cubic feet per second (cfs) were released from the reservoir at that capacity, it would generate 500 kilowatts. Releasing 300 cfs would generate 2.1 megawatts…
To get that kind of flow, the reservoir would need to be full, and the reservoir reach its full capacity without rehabilitation, DiNatale explained. Increasing the amount of water in the reservoir would take cooperation from various entities, he added. For example, the reservoir could store water for the Rio Grande Compact, Division of Wildlife, sub-districts and other groups. Reservoir rehab would cost about $22 million, Smith said. Reservoir rehabilitation would involve construction of a new outlet, enhancement of the spillway and correction of a seepage problem. With another approximately $8 million the rehabilitated reservoir capacity could be expanded by another 10,000 acre feet, according to Smith.