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By Charles C. Hutton, Vice President, ECI, 5660 Greenwood Plaza Blvd, St. 500,
Englewood, Colorado 80111 and Eva June Busse, Project Manager, City of Boulder, 1739
Broadway, Boulder, Colorado 80306
ABSTRACT
The City of Boulder, Colorado recognized the hydroelectric power potential in its existing
municipal water supply system during the early 1980's. Since that time, Boulder has
obtained seven exemptions from license and has constructed six hydroelectric facilities
that are currently in operation. The Lakewood Hydroelectric Facility currently under
construction and the recently constructed Silver Lake Hydroelectric Facility will complete
the development of the economical, potential power in that portion of the municipal water
supply system which has been the subject of preliminary permits held by the City. As
with previous hydroelectric projects, Boulder retrofitted the existing Lakewood and Silver
Lake raw water transmission pipelines with hydroelectric generation equipment to
produce hydroelectric power as a byproduct of the municipal water system operations.
This paper discusses the final two high head hydroelectric facilities culminating in the
realization of a dream that started 20 years ago.
Introduction
Since the early 1900's, Boulder has developed its North Boulder Creek basin water
supplies as its primary source for a safe, reliable municipal water supply to its citizens.
Approximately 40 percent of the City’s present annual water supply originate in the City-
owned watershed at the headwaters of North Boulder Creek. This source is used year
round. It is Boulder’s primary winter water supply, and during the winter months, up to 90
percent of the municipal water needs may be met by this supply.
The Lakewood and Silver Lake pipelines were originally constructed in 1906 and 1919,
respectively, to protect Boulder’s water supply from contamination by mining, and from
pollution resulting from camping activity in the mountains west of Boulder. These pipelines
continue to fulfill this purpose, as well as to protect the water supply from contamination
resulting from development, recreation and agricultural uses of the mountain area.
In 1980, Boulder began to study the feasibility of using the excess and wasted energy in the
City of Boulder’s municipal water supply system for the generation of electricity. The initial
study identified five potential sites for installation of hydroelectric turbine/generators, which
could be installed with no new dam construction and no additional diversion of streams.
Boulder owned, and already used, all necessary water rights, water storage facilities and
water transmission facilities to operate the identified projects, and therefore, the overall
environmental impact to recover the then wasted energy would be minimal.
Boulder filed its first application for a Preliminary Permit with the FERC on May 3, 1982.
Boulder’s application included all hydroelectric potential within the water system. On
February 7, 1983, the FERC awarded the first Preliminary Permit to Boulder. The first five
hydroelectric facilities were constructed between 1985 and 1987. The process to permit
the Lakewood pipeline replacement and hydroelectric facility began in about 1986. The
application for the preliminary permit for the Silver Lake Hydroelectric Project was
submitted in May 1995.
The existing 3.6-mile-long Silver Lake pipeline was in poor condition and needed to be
replaced to maintain the integrity and quality of the water supplies to the city from the
watershed. The gravity flow pipeline was replaced with a continuous welded steel
pressure pipeline during the summer and fall of 1997 and 1998. The diversion
structure and intake for the pipeline are located on North Boulder Creek approximately
1.8 miles downstream of Silver Lake Dam in the Silver Lake Watershed. The outlet
works at the dam regulates flow in the creek. Presently the dam outlet works and
pipeline intake are manually operated by the watershed manager. In the winter this
requires a 4-mile-long snowmobile ride to the intake and another 1.8 miles to the dam
to change the flow in the creek.
The Lakewood Hydroelectric Facility will include a 3.2 MW pelton turbine (with a
design head of 1,400 feet and static head of 1,800 feet), 3,600 kW/4,000 KVA, 900
rpm generator, turbine shutoff valve, switchgear, transformer and other associated
mechanical and electrical equipment for a completely automatic remote control facility.
A unique feature of the Lakewood and Silver Lake Pipelines and Hydroelectric Facilities is
the valve system used to provide bypass flows and dissipate energy when the turbine in not
operating. The valve at each of these facilities is required to dissipate energy from a head
of about 1,400 feet for the Silver Lake pipeline and about 1,500 feet for Lakewood
pipeline. There are very few valves available that can dissipate energy from this amount of
head without discharging into the atmosphere or into a confined structure. The Mokveld
valve selected for this project achieves energy dissipation within the valve body and in a
minimal amount of physical space making it ideal for this application. The valve on the
Lakewood pipeline was installed in about 1995 and has operated continuously with minor
problems. A special fine mesh, elevated intake screen was included on the upper end of
the pipeline in the reservoir to eliminate debris, which plugged the valve and created an
unacceptable pressure upstream of the valve. The valve has since been instrumented with
a programmable logical controller and programmed to operate automatically via the
SCADA system from a remote location at the control center located in the Betasso Water
Treatment Plant control center. In the interim until the entire Lakewood pipeline is
replaced, the valve has been programmed to partially pressurize the pipeline to minimize
air entertainment.
Architectural Treatment
The table at the end of this paper summarizes the types and capacities of the turbines and
generators installed in the Boulder water system.
During the period from 1990 to 1998, Boulder’s hydroelectric power system generated an
average of 15,132,932 kilowatt-hours (kWh) of electricity – enough power to supply 7% of
the city’s homes. This percentage is based on the consumption of an average residential
customer, who uses about 5,600 kWh per year. Boulder received annual average
revenues of $790,235 from the sale of the hydroelectric power.
When complete, Boulder’s hydroelectric power system will generate an average of about
51,764,732 kWh of electricity – enough power to supply 24% of the city’s homes.
Advantages of Hydropower
Problems that can arise as a result of hydropower operation on a municipal water system
are:
Conclusions
Developing municipal hydropower can be a lengthy process, but a water utility that is aware
of the potential problems and costs can take the necessary steps to turn unused potential
into actual working facilities, that can raise revenue and provide needed energy. In the
city’s first 1982 application for a FERC permit, the FERC established some goals for what
they wanted to accomplish with the development of the hydroelectric power facilities.
FERC stated that
It is gratifying to see what the city has achieved since 1982. Since submittal of the first
application, six projects have been built and the final one is under construction. The city
should be pleased with their accomplishments and Realization of the Dream.
The project was recently selected by the Colorado Consulting Engineers Council to receive
a 2000 Merit Award for Engineering Excellence. The Orodell Hydroelectric Project also
received an award for Engineering Excellence from the Colorado Consulting Engineers
Council.
Authors
Charles C. Hutton is a Vice President at ECI, the Water Resource Division of Frederic R.
Harris, Inc. He is the ECI Project Manager for the Silver Lake and Lakewood
Hydroelectric Projects responsible for directing the preparation of feasibility studies,
preliminary and final designs, construction drawings, specifications and cost estimates.
He also was responsible for management and coordination of full time construction
management for installation of the turbine, generator and bypass valve equipment and
construction of the powerhouse structure.
Eva June Busse is a Project Manager at the City of Boulder, Colorado. She is the City’s
Project Manager for the Silver Lake and Lakewood Hydroelectric Projects responsible
for management and coordination of the consultant and contractors. She also was
extensively involved in construction management during installation of the turbine,
generator and bypass valve equipment and construction of the powerhouse structure.
June also was the City’s Project Manager for the Betasso, Orodell and Sunshine
Hydroelectric Projects.
CITY OF BOULDER
HYDROELECTRIC FACILITIES FACT SHEET
Name Power Type of Type of Design Design Generation In-Service Annual Annual Construction
Source Turbine Generator Head Flow Pumping Date Generation Revenue Cost
(feet) (cfs) Capacity (kWh) ($) (4)
Pressure
Reaction 70 kW March 110,000
Maxwell Zone 3 Induction 240 5.4 513,382 20,573
(Francis) 150 hp 1985 (note 1)
Treated Water
Pressure
Reaction November 280,000
Kohler Zone 3 Induction 235 8.8 598,889 32,903
(Francis) 1985 (note 2)
Treated Water
Orodell Line
Reaction September
Orodell Treated Induction 260 4.8 180kW 823,022 19,507 540,000
(Francis) 1987
Water
Sunshine Line
Reaction September
Sunshine Treated Induction 340 13.2 800kW 4,151,523 177,833 1,100,000
(Francis) 1987
Water
Barker Line
Impulse December
Betasso Raw Synchronous 1,200 34 2,900 kW 9,056,116 539,419 3,200,000
(Pelton) 1987
Water
Silver Lake
Impulse March
Silver Lake Raw Water Synchronous 1,430 31 3,200 kW 17,000,000 500,000 4,960,000
(Pelton) 2000
Pipeline
INSTALLED
Subtotal 7,286 kW 32,142,932 1,290,235 10,190,000
FACILITIES
Lakewood
Impulse -
Lakewood Raw Water Synchronous 1,400 31 3,200 kW 19,621,800 - 2,180,000
(Pelton)
Pipeline