Corporate Excellence

By Kris Polly

In our cover story this month, we profile Elizabeth McCormick, a partner at Troutman Pepper Locke, a DC-based law firm with the largest hydropower practice in the nation. She explains how Troutman supports hydropower clients amid the pressures of aging infrastructure and the changes and opportunities presented by the decisions of the new administration. Ultimately, she says, she would like people to recognize hydro as a “clean, domestic, renewable resource” with a strong future as part of the U.S. energy mix.

With locations from coast to coast, the well-established family firm Mazzella is one of the largest lifting and rigging companies in the United States. For the hydro industry, it provides and upgrades cranes, gate ropes, rigging systems, fall protection systems, and other facility components and provides equipment training. Seth Barnett, the segment manager for energy and aerospace, and Adam Franz, the vice president of lifting, tell us more.

Engineering and construction firm GFT was formed in 2024 through the merger of the storied firms Gannett Fleming and TranSystems. Today, it helps hydro clients with dam safety and rehabilitation assessments, regulatory compliance, and planning for major upgrades and projects. We learn more about the bright future GFT sees for hydro work in our conversation with Randy Bowersox, who serves as a senior vice president, the director of operations for water, and the hydropower market executive at GFT.

Day & Zimmerman, a globally active company based in Philadelphia, already well known for its maintenance and outage services in the fossil and nuclear industries, is expanding to hydropower. As Project Manager Jay Posey and Fabrication Shop Manager Brandon Tharp tell us, the company offers comprehensive assistance from the preplanning stage onward and can deliver upgrades, equipment replacements, fabrication, documentation, and more.

Oiles America Corporation brings the material science excellence and global experience of the Oiles Corporation to U.S. hydropower clients. Senior Account Manager Kurt Garvey tells us about its precision-engineered self-lubricating components and how they can improve the performance and reliability of hydropower facilities.

We end this month with a look at a fascinating new technology: high-density pumped storage hydro. By replacing the water in a conventional pumped storage project with a proprietary, environmentally benign fluid that is 2½ times as dense as water, UK company RheEnergise is able to build pumped storage facilities that are significantly smaller and require less vertical elevation— while storing and generating the same amount of energy. CEO Stephen Crosher tells us more about the promise of this technology.

While Hydro Leader often features government agencies such as the Bureau of Reclamation and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, this month’s stories all profile private firms— companies with high standards, trusted performance, and immense experience. By developing innovative new products, consistently offering high-quality systems, and making sure their service offerings meet the needs of hydro owners and operators, these companies strengthen our industry.

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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.