American Municipal Power, Inc. has awarded a contract to Walsh Construction Group of Chicago, Illinois, for the general construction of the powerhouse and appurtenances for the Cannelton hydroelectric project in Kentucky.

The contract is valued at approximately $192 million and will include the construction of a three-unit bulb turbine type powerhouse adjacent to the existing Cannelton Locks and Dam, a press release states.

"This project and contract award to Walsh is an important step in AMP's overall hydroelectric development effort – the largest such effort in the nation," AMP President and CEO Marc Gerken said. "We celebrated the groundbreaking at Cannelton a little over a year ago and are pleased to be moving forward to the next phase of construction."

Once complete, the Cannelton hydroelectric plant will have a capacity of 84 MW and will provide base load power to 79 AMP member communities participating in the project. Cannelton is one of six run-of-river hydroelectric projects currently under development by AMP on the Ohio River. Construction is also under way on projects at the Smithland and Meldahl dams.

Other contracts for the supply of the equipment have previously been awarded to Voith Hydro (turbine equipment), Oregon Iron Works (gates and trashrack equipment), Iljin / Pan Amerca Supply (main power transformers) and Morgan Engineering (cranes equipment). The completion date for the powerhouse is anticipated in the spring of 2014.