Yellowstone Shows Off New Hydro Project
Yellowstone National Park plans to show off its new micro hydro power plant at Mammoth Hot Springs next week to the media. The plant began generating power for the park’s headquarters complex last month. It captures energy from water flowing 450 feet down from the Indian Creek water intake on Swan Lake Flats to a newly constructed electrical generator and turbine that is capable of producing up to more than 1.2 million kilowatt hours of electricity for the park each year. Park officials say it will save the park an estimated $73,000 in energy costs and help to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by more than 800 metric tons each year. The new plant is the most recent use of sustainable hydropower energy in the park since the U.S. Army engineered the first hydropower plant in Mammoth in 1902 before the commercial use of electricity.
