Hydroelectric engineers find potential in abandoned mine
Post date: Jan 10, 2017 2:19:32 AM
THE BOSTON GLOBE-BUSINESS SECTION
JANUARY 02, 2017
ENERGY
Some see an abandoned, centuries-old iron mine in the Adirondacks. But engineers sees the shafts in Mineville, N.Y., as a way to provide a steady flow of electricity in a growing market for renewable energy. They are pitching a plan to circulate some of the millions of gallons of ground water that have flooded the mine shafts to power 100 turbines a half-mile underground. They envision the operation as a solution for solar and wind power producers, who need ways to ensure an uninterrupted flow of energy when the sun isn’t shining or the winds are still. Said Jim Besha, head of Albany Engineering Corp.: ‘‘You can think of it as a bank. If someone has excess solar energy, they would pay a fee to store it overnight.’’ Engineers would drain roughly half the water from the shafts and pump the remainder into an upper chamber. The water would then be released into a lower chamber, powering turbines and creating electricity. The turbines would be reversed to pump the water back up to repeat the process. Technically, the pumped water is considered stored energy, to be released strategically when power is needed. The Mineville Pumped Storage Project still needs federal approvals but it could become one of the first projects of its kind in the nation. The mine contributed iron for the first naval battle of the Revolutionary War, on Lake Champlain; it was mined for the last time in 1971. — ASSOCIATED PRESS