The Low Impact Hydropower Institute (LIHI) has issued its 200th Low Impact certificate in the U.S., to the Monroe Drop hydropower project in Oregon, owned by Natel Energy.
LIHI is a national, independent program that has been reviewing and certifying hydropower projects based on their environmental, recreational and cultural impacts for nearly 25 years. It was established in 1999, when electricity market deregulation was beginning to drive increased demand for “green power.” It was generally recognized that consumers were seeking power that presented few significant adverse impacts. Despite hydropower’s use of a renewable resource – water – concerns remained about hydropower’s detrimental impact on aquatic ecosystems. LIHI grew out of a collaborative effort by conservation, marketing and green power organizations to create a voluntary standard that would recognize and provide economic reinforcement to hydropower owners that develop, operate and/or improve their facilities consistent with established environmental criteria.
The 300 kW Monroe Drop hydropower project is situated on an irrigation canal in Oregon’s Deschutes River Basin and operates during the irrigation season in passive run-of-canal mode with no storage.
“The Monroe Drop project is a great example of how innovative owners can operate a project that is consistent with power, environmental and community needs,” said Shannon Ames, executive director of LIHI. “Not only does the project have minimal impact and utilize existing infrastructure, but it also is being used by Natel Energy as a full-scale test site to advance fish-safe turbine technology as part of their efforts to develop hydropower solutions that support efficient energy production and fish safety.”
“Natel chose to pursue LIHI certification for the Monroe Drop Project to highlight the importance of setting and meeting sustainability standards that support ecosystem function alongside energy production. We are thrilled to celebrate Monroe as LIHI’s 200th certified project, and we encourage other project owners to work with LIHI to evaluate their assets’ ecological footprints so that as an industry we can deliver truly sustainable renewable energy,” said Gia Schneider, co-founder and chief executive officer of Natel Energy.
Low Impact certification establishes a framework that enables hydro asset owners to benchmark the environmental impact of their projects and sets targets that help guide future operations to restore or maintain ecological function while generating reliable, renewable power.
The Monroe Drop project has been a cornerstone of Natel Energy’s research and development process, facilitating the validation of its fish-safe turbine design. In 2020, Monroe Drop became the site of the first utility-scale installation of Natel’s Restoration Hydro Turbine (RHT) and has served as a test site for multiple through-turbine fish passage studies with Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. The studies passed trout up to 500 mm (19.7 inches) in length through the RHT with 100% immediate survival and no detectable injuries.
With increasing demand for clean, baseload energy supply, conduit projects in irrigation canals, water supply lines and other human-made structures could bring gigawatts of potential low-impact hydropower generation online across the nation, LIHI said. The project demonstrates the feasibility of developing low-impact hydropower on already existing structures while providing reliable power to its surrounding municipalities with minimal impact to the socio-environmental communities relying on our natural water systems.
LIHI is a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization dedicated to reducing the impacts of hydropower generation through the development of comprehensive low impact criteria and the certification of hydropower projects that meet them. Eleven percent of all Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC)-licensed and FERC-exempt facilities are LIHI Certified®. Most certified facilities have undergone at least one recertification. LIHI Certified facilities provide over 4,500 MW of capacity and generate over 16,900 GWh of electricity annually, avoiding nearly 12 million metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions. LIHI Certified facilities have stewardship of over 1,000 river miles.
