BY CRAIG FREILICH
North Country This Week

POTSDAM -- The village has hopes all four generators at the two hydropower installations can be up and running within six months.

Village Administrator Greg Thompson told the village board at their Monday meeting that a new actuator for West Dam generator #1 is ready for reinstallation. Meanwhile generator #2 was taken offline due to fears it was about to fail, so when the new actuator for #1 is installed, another new actuator will be installed in #2 and the cause for apparent seal failures will be examined in detail. That work is expected to begin almost immediately.

Meanwhile two bids for more extensive work on both generators at the East Dam are being evaluated by the village and the New York Power Authority, which is contributing expertise and funding for the job. The preferred bid will be forwarded to the trustees for an award vote. Once the winning bid is announced, work there is expected to undertaken early in the spring and could be done fairly quickly. “Al plans at this point show us being on line late in March or early April,” Thompson said.

The village hydropower projects have been plagued for years, with a contractor failing to supply promised equipment, and generator failures at both dams, all of which has proven expensive for the taxpayers.

The belief is that once electricity generation is restored, the village will begin seeing savings on its electric bills and even some revenue from surplus power.