Hydro Leader Magazine

14/02/2025

Check out our article on Atlantium's environmentally friendly solution for aquatic invasives that clog hydro works from our February issue.

Invasive mussels arrived in U.S. waters on the ballast of boats in the 1980s. When the problem reached the Colorado River in 2007 and started clogging the cooling water systems of some of the nation’s biggest hydroelectric dams, the Bureau of Reclamation got involved in the search for a solution. Leonard Willett, who at that time was the environmental compliance manager at Hoover Dam, undertook 10 years of exhaustive research into the issue. As a result of his work, Reclamation facilities—and since then, those of other major asset owners—have turned to Atlantium Technologies ’s Hydro-Optic Disinfection (HOD) medium-pressure (MP) ultraviolet (UV) system.The cost- effective, chemical-free technology is proving effective at protecting fish and human health while effectively targeting invasives that are gumming up the works. To learn more, we interview Mr. Willett, who is now an associate at RNT Consulting, and Dennis Bitter, Atlantium's director of sales for innovative applications in the power, energy, and industrial markets.

https://bit.ly/4jOZCBL

13/02/2025

Water Strategies is hosting a free Leadership Communication Webinar next week on February 19th. If you’d like to improve your professional communication skills and grow in your leadership position, contact Kris Polly at [email protected] or 703-517-3962. We hope you can join us!

13/02/2025

Water Strategies is hosting a free Leadership Communication Webinar next week on February 19th. If you'd like to improve your professional communication skills and grow in your leadership position, contact Kris Polly at [email protected] or 703-517-3962. We hope you can join us!

13/02/2025

12/02/2025

Check out our article on Josh Petersen of Merjent taking on the future from our February issue.

Merjent Inc. helps clients in the energy industry with their environmental engineering needs while navigating complex regulatory requirements for permitting. With active projects in 34 states, Merjent provides consulting services across the nation with a strong focus on the Midwest. In this conversation, Merjent’s president of engineering, Josh Petersen, illuminates a fateful question about the future of hydroelectricity. Will most older low-head dams be refurbished for power or retired? Does small hydro have a future, and if so, what is it? This complicated, multifactor decision must be made by every affected operator, owner, utility, or regulator for themselves. In the big picture of the energy transition, Mr. Petersen also offers
us his take on a possible federal role to encourage and incentivize new directions for small hydro.

https://bit.ly/419kpZa

06/02/2025

Check out our article on U.S. turbine manufacturers from our February issue.

The United States is home to a number of turbine manufacturers, many of them on the innovative, modular, or small side of the hydro spectrum. In this group article, we introduce three of them: Emrgy, a highly innovative manufacturer of modular hydro systems that are designed to harness the energy in water conveyance infrastructure; Canyon Hydro, a Washington State–based manufacturer of high-quality turbines, many small or medium size; and Alternative Power and Machine (APM), which produces and upgrades extremely small turbines.

https://bit.ly/42KbCOC

05/02/2025

The February issue of Hydro Leader is here!

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.

https://bit.ly/4130jA3

21/01/2025

Check out our article on rising star Sterling Watson mentors new talent for the hydro industry at Natel from our January issue.

Sterling Watson of Natel Energy, a turbine design engineering company, was honored this year with the Rising Star Award from the Future Leaders of Waterpower (FLOW), the young professionals organization of the National Hydropower Association (NHA). She leads testing and fish survival model development for Natel’s FishSafe turbine designs. As a young professional herself, Ms. Watson praises the hydro industry’s commitment to the development of new talent. In turn, she repays and honors those who helped her along by mentoring fresh recruits to the workforce. In this interview, we hear more about Natel’s contributions to the innovative technology developments that make hydropower a leader in the energy transition.

https://bit.ly/3C6GkGQ