OGDENSBURG — Alliance Energy is proposing to generate up to 110 megawatts of electricity using underwater currents from the St. Lawrence River.
The company proposes to place up to 11 arrays, with each array using 10 underwater turbines, in the river. Each turbine can generate up to one megawatt of electricity.
On Friday, the company amended the application it submitted last summer to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission for a preliminary permit to study the currents of the river around Ogdensburg. No timetable was available on when a permit could be issued to study the river's energy-producing potential using one array.
FERC officials recently wanted Alliance to define its project area and scope better, along with the type of underwater turbines to be used. Alliance will employ technology developed by UEK Corp. of Annapolis, Md., for the proposed project.
Alliance's project area initially focused on the American side of the river five miles upstream and downstream of the Ogdensburg-Prescott International Bridge. The company now has narrowed its boundary area to four primary locations.
Fred E. Springer, an attorney from Troutman Sanders LLP, Washington, D.C., representing Alliance, said in a letter dated Friday that each array would take up to 10,000 square feet of space in the river — an area 400 feet by 25 feet.
The locations include three arrays each to be placed in the St. Lawrence just west of the city of Ogdensburg, in Wheathouse Bay and just west of Gallop Island, according to a map attached with the letter. The final two arrays could be stationed near the eastern tip of Gallop Island.
Alliance officials said previously that commercial shipping traffic on the St. Lawrence would not be affected by the project.
An underwater turbine would capture the flowing water to rotate the turbine blades and produce electricity. The power is then transmitted by underwater cable to shore and to the power grid for distribution.
The turbines, each about 17 feet wide and 10 feet tall, would be anchored to the riverbed and marked with surface buoys to warn boaters, UEK officials said. The depth of the turbines can be controlled by computer to capture the fastest current.
The underwater turbines also have screens in front of them to prevent fish and diving birds from going through them.
Some spots in the river won't be ideal locations for turbines because of shallow water, sturgeon spawning areas or low-flowing water, Mr. Springer wrote.
Proponents of underwater turbines say the devices are more environmentally friendly energy sources than fossil fuels or nuclear energy. Opponents have concerns with the technology, including reliability of the equipment, impact upon fish species and spawning opportunities in the river, the size of the structures, the movement of sediment on the riverbed and the potential loss of recreational use of parts of the river.
The company contended in its initial FERC filing that the underwater turbines "if designed properly, would not affect water quality, block fish passage, direct aquatic life through turbine generators or impact river transportation in the St. Lawrence Seaway."
Before the project could move forward, Alliance would need approval from several federal and state agencies, including the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, St. Lawrence Seaway Development Corp., FERC and state Department of Environmental Conservation.
Alliance operates several cogeneration and hydroelectric plants statewide, including a former cogeneration facility at the St. Lawrence Psychiatric Center.
