BY CRAIG FREILICH
North Country This Week

POTSDAM -- Village officials are preparing for the beginning of work to restart the two electric generators in the East Dam powerhouse that could be ready in April.

Two bids for the work to restore the generators and replace aging electrical controls are being reviewed by the New York Power Authority (NYPA), which will recommend one of them to the village Board of Trustees for their approval.

Village officials met with representatives of the New York Power Authority last week for an update on the plans to rehabilitate the generators at the East Dam.

“It provided us the opportunity to hear from project representatives at the power authority,” including Andy Guan from NYPA’s hydrogeneration team based at headquarters in White Plains, and Karen White from NYPA’s Massena office, said Fred Hanss, director of the village Planning and Development Office.

No decisions were made at the Thursday, Nov. 7 meeting, and no action was taken, but the plans are firming up for a start of work.

Next steps include NYPA’s letter recommending one of two bidders on the gearbox restoration and electrical work. While the gearbox repair is the main aim of the work, engineers added to the project replacement of the electrical controls, which date from the 1970s.

“The electrical engineering folks looked at the controls and recommended replacement. They’re antiquated,” said Hanss.

The project will also include separating the electrical service of the water plant and the hydro operation, which at the moment are operating with one connection.

The village board will vote to accept the recommended bidder’s proposal, or not, probably at their next meeting.

The next step would be execution of the financing agreement by the mayor, “and then the project will commence,” Hanss said, perhaps as soon as next month.

It has taken many steps to get this far, including the search for engineering firms, doing design, planning the procurement process, asking for bids, processing the awards for the contracts, and project financing.

As the disassembly of the two generators is done to replace the gearboxes, engineers will inspect the machinery “to be able to determine if additional work is needed.”

To do the work, the roof of the building will be opened and a crane will be brought in to lift the machinery out and place it on flatbed trucks to move to the contractor’s indoor work site.

“It’s a huge job, very expensive, so you want to do it only once if you can,” Hanss said.

The plan now is to use NYPA’s financing during the actual work and pay the Power Authority through the bonding.

The village at its last meeting Nov. 4 set a bonding limit of $4.5 million for the work, though it is unlikely that much in bond borrowing will be needed.

The Board of Trustees has not authorized any issuance of bonds yet. Any actual issue is subject to a permissive referendum of village voters.

Grants totaling $1 million are already in place, $750,000 from the state Community Development Program and $250,000 secured for the project by former Assemblywoman Addie Jenne.

The problems at the East Dam hydro installation began in 2015 with gearbox failures on the two generators and subsequent unsuccessful attempts to repair them.

The Power Authority became involved in the rehabilitation of the troubled East Dam generators in 2016 during discussions involving the village and Clarkson University and Power Authority experts about bringing the village’s hydrogeneration facilities into a “microgrid” project.

The village, Clarkson, General Electric, National Grid and the New York State Energy Research and Development Agency have talked about setting up an emergency backup to the main electric grid in the village should a disaster such as the ice storm of 1998 wipe out electric service.

That backup would include the power from the village’s hydro generators as well as other nearby resources.

It was hoped the proposal from CU and NYPA to offer technical expertise to get the East Dam plant back in service would save the village some expense in consultants and designers.

NYPA’s offer to bring its deep expertise and financial clout to bear on the project became a formal plan for the authority to provide engineering and project management services during construction, and debt financing through NYPA’s Energy Efficiency Program.

Hanss said he is hopeful that the work in the powerhouse could be complete in April, with the generators spinning and making electricity.