Rye Development, a Boston-based hydropower company, is retrofitting the dams with turbines to generate electricity and says the upgraded structures will limit damage to the rivers’ water quality and fish.
WASHINGTON — In southwestern Pennsylvania, eight locks and dams that for decades helped barges move goods along the Allegheny, Monongahela and Ohio rivers will in a few years also generate enough power for 75,000 homes.
“We do recognize that is probably going to play some role in the transition. It’s certainly better than coal,” said Ted Illston of American Rivers, which has advocated for dam removals on environmental grounds. Part of the challenge is that most dams in the U.S. were built more than half a century ago. The risk of dam collapses has fueled demolitions in recent years, with more than 40% of the country’s nearly 2,000 dam removals in the past century happening in the last decade. Some are also torn down largely for environmental reasons.
“It’s very easy for individual river systems to get lost in the message of climate change and the need for renewable energy,” said Shannon Ames, executive director of the Low Impact Hydropower Institute, which grades hydropower dams based on environmental criteria. west of the Mississippi River, the industry has a more direct path to expansion in eastern states.