Over the past several years, Bedford Town Council has committed to spending millions of dollars on Bedfords hydroelectric plant, Snowden, which is located on the James River in Big Island and has been in operation since 1911.

Councilmembersagree the plant is environmentally friendly and a good source of energy for the town,and so they have committed more money to its upkeep for the next few fiscal year budgets. Prior to 2016, enough funding was allocated to the plant to keep it operational, and only small amounts were spent on capital improvements.

Once council decided to extend the life of the plant, capital spending grew to more than $1 million. Annual capital spending will stay in the $1 million range for the next few years.

To learn that we have been using this facility for 100 years to get renewable energy might surprise people, council member Bruce Johannessen said. This is really a gem that we have there.

Snowden is known as arun of riverplant, meaning it only can run when there is enough water in the river. The plant, which serves about 7,000 customers, generated about 16.8 million kilowatts in 2016.The energy generated by the plant is an amount equal to about 8 percent of the electric department's sales in fiscal year 2016.

All of the energy is clean, and it serves everyone in the towns utility service going from Big Island to about five miles south of the town of Bedford.

Its clean energy and a competitive cost supplier for energy, said John Wagner, director of the towns electric department. Those two things are important to the town.

There are numerous smallrun-of-riverhydro plants along theJames River.

For fiscal year 2018, council has budgeted$1.3 million for capital improvement projects and new equipment for the plant and $1.04 million for fiscal year 2019.

Part of those improvements included a new speed increaser that was delivered to the plant July 14. A speed increaser steps up the speed produced by the water driven in the James River.

There are two generating systems within the plant, and each has independent speed increasers. In January last year, one of the speed increasers began degrading and was unable to produce at the same capacity that it normally would, which is 2.5 megawatts.

We analyzed the system and ordered a replacement so that the unit could return to full service, Wagner said.

Theincreasercost $1 million and weighs 15 tons.

Its a low-cost energy for our customers, he said.

The costs to operate the plant are about1centper kilowatt of production. The town has contracts with other hydro resources that cost about5 centsper kilowatt.

Because much of the large equipment is located in the water, it must be maintained constantly, Wagner said.

The James River can be a nasty place to be at times, so it takes ongoing maintenance to keep the plant in running condition, he said. Currently a contractor maintains and operates the plant in conjunction with the electric department.

The contractor has one full-time senior operator and maintenancetechnicianand one part-time operator.

The electric department supplements them with skilled workers andspecializedcontractorsas needed, Wagner said. The total budget this year for the entire electric department is $22 million.

Most of the operating equipment was replaced in 1985. The key components of the plant will last another 20 to 30 years, including the speed increaser.

The town entered into a life-extension projectagreementwith Snowden.The life-extension project is part of the ongoing maintenance that will extend the useful life of the infrastructure indefinitely.

Other upcoming approved projects that are part of the towns capital improvement plan are roof and water leak repairs, upgrades to lighting and security systems, a new dump cart system that can be used to transport debris away from the plant inlet area and an upgrade of the trash rake which is used to remove debris from the turbine inlet ports.

Projects in the proposed 2019 budget include rebuilding turbines, cleaning and refurbishing a generator and drainage system and another speed increaser.The next project is to update and modernize the computer control system. Wagner said it should be online and running by the end of the year.

All of this work will be done as it fits into the budget, he said. We have to balance that against our available budget funds.

Council member Jim Vest was on the board when the plant was refurbished in 1985 and serves as the chair of the electric committee.

Its a huge investment for the town, Vest said of Snowden. When we get everything fixed, it will stabilize the cost of electricity for citizens.

We are planning on spending a lot of money in the next several years to maximize its capability and provide a clean source of energy.

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Bedford's hydroelectric plant gets improvements - Lynchburg News and Advance