OXBOW, Mich. – Installation of a new water turbine on Unit 3 of Consumers Energy’s Hardy Dam on the Muskegon River was completed this month, resulting in a 600-kilowatt upgrade in energy from the unit.

Downstream from the plant, the fish will be happier, too.

Consumers Energy and the building trades replaced the original 1930 water turbine at Hardy Dam in Unit 3 and also re-wound the generator. The new turbine is capable of producing 11,400 kilowatts of electricity, up from 10,800 kilowatts previously. The upgrade enables Hardy to generate a total of 33,000 kilowatts.

“Renewable hydro power remains one of Michigan’s most important homegrown energy sources to serve the needs of customers,” said Bill Schoenlein, Consumers Energy’s manager of hydro generation. “We’ve demonstrated that here at Hardy by investing in a new turbine that produces more energy from the same water flow while also benefiting fish by improving oxygen content in the water downstream of the plant.”

The new turbine installation project began in May 2008. The total cost of the project was about $5 million. As part of its Balanced Energy Initiative announced in 2007, Consumers Energy is working to double the amount of renewable power that it supplies to customers from about 5 percent today to 10 percent by 2015. The 10 percent level also is part of the state’s 2008 energy law. The utility is studying potential upgrades at its other hydro units as part of its overall plan to reach the ten percent renewable level.

The original turbine is on public display at the Operators Village Park next to the roadway crossing Hardy Dam.

Hardy Dam is the largest energy producer in the 13-plant Consumers Energy hydro fleet. It generates an average of 95 million kilowatt-hours of electricity each year, enough to meet the annual power needs of about 12,200 residential customers. At the same time, its 4,000-acre Hardy Pond reservoir serves as a recreation destination for thousands of visitors and area residents each year.

Consumers Energy’s 13 hydroelectric dams have the capacity to generate 132 megawatts of renewable electricity at facilities on the Au Sable, Manistee, Muskegon, Grand and Kalamazoo rivers. The reservoirs created by the dams provide recreational opportunities.

Consumers Energy provides natural gas and electricity to nearly 6.5 million of Michigan’s 10 million residents in all 68 Lower Peninsula counties.

THE HARDY DAM.

THE SETTING of the new turbine. Photos courtesy of Consumers Energy, by Harry Sabourin