Volume 6 Issue 2 February

Focus on U.S. Turbine Manufacturers

By Kris Polly

While much turbine manufacturing occurs overseas, the United States is home to a number of turbine manufacturers, especially innovative, specialized, and small-scale ones. In our cover story this month, we profile three of them. We speak with Vikram Pande, the director of supply chain for Emrgy, a pioneering modular hydropower manufacturer; Eric Melander, the vice president of sales at Canyon Hydro, a Washington State–based manufacturer that specializes in small- to medium-size systems; and Don Harris, who launched Harris Hydro on an amateur basis and turned it into a business, and Jerry Ostermeier, the owner of Alternative Power and Machine, a manufacturer of extremely small hydro systems, which ultimately acquired Harris Hydro.

Next, we feature a fascinating conversation with Josh Petersen, the president of engineering at Merjent, about the fate and future of the United States’ small hydro dams. As facilities age and regulatory requirements become more stringent, owners must decide whether to reinvest in dams or remove them. Yet even removal involves costs, liability, and regulatory hurdles. Mr. Petersen explains why he expects the next 20 years to be pivotal.

The growth of invasive mussels inside hydro facilities is known as macrofouling, and you could say that it causes macroproblems. Even large-scale hydro facilities on the Colorado River, such as Hoover and Parker Dams, suffer from the invasion of their cooling systems by these pests. Israeli technology firm Atlantium has developed a new kind of medium-pressure ultraviolet system known as Hydro-Optic Disinfection that can effectively treat the problem.

Greenberry Industrial fabricates, delivers, and helps install heavy, complex pieces of equipment for hydropower dams, including valves, miter gates, and penstocks. We speak with Fabrication Manager Brian Bennett about these colossal projects.

Finally, we profile two well-established suppliers of components for the hydro industry. Nitin Kulkarni, the president of Wisconsin-based Helwig Carbon Products, tells us about the wide range of brushes, holders, seals, rings, and other components the company provides for customers around the world. Then, Business Development Director Bartosz Mikolajczyk of Poland-based DONAKO tells us about the components and systems the company creates for high-powered electrical machinery, including hydropower facilities.

Turbines, valves, gates, electric components, carbon brushes, and UV systems: Many pieces of advanced technology go into a high-performing, profitable hydropower facility. This month’s issue of Hydro Leader shines a light on the manufacturers of many of these critical products.

Kris Polly is the editor-in-chief of Hydro Leader magazine and the president and CEO of Water Strategies LLC, a government relations firm he began in February 2009 for the purpose of representing and guiding water, power, and agricultural entities in their dealings with Congress, the Bureau of Reclamation, and other federal government agencies. He may be contacted at kris.polly@waterstrategies.com.