Saint John Energy eyes hydro project at Musquash

Saint John Energy is looking hard at hydro power generation in Musquash.

The city-owned utility has hired Hatch, a Mississaugua-based engineering firm, to study the proposal.

"The work is underway at Musquash," said Ray Robinson, the president and chief executive officer of Saint John Energy.

"We're looking at more of a technical concept study to see if it would make economic sense to redevelop hydro at the Musquash watershed."

For several decades, beginning in 1922, NB Power operated a small hydro power station at Musquash.

Although the station has since been decommissioned, the dams, roadways and power-line right-of-ways remain in place.

In 2014, NB Power released the Integrated Resource Plan, a document that opens the door to community-generated energy from renewable sources. That change would permit the city to step out of its current role, which limits it to distributing electricity purchased from NB Power.

"It's been confirmed that we do qualify for that program," said Robinson.

"Hopefully it will be feasible."

Robinson said Hatch engineers have been asked to determine the optimum size for a generator given the volume of water that exists in the Musquash lakes system.

"They're doing the wizardry and we'll see what comes of it," said Robinson, who expects to see some of the study results in a couple of weeks.

David Thompson, a long-time environmentalist, said in May that he was hoping that Saint John Energy would use the Musquash dam to generate power.

Earlier this year, Saint John Mayor Mel Norton was in Edmundston to speak with officials about the northwestern city's hydro dams.

Edmundston and Saint John both have municipal power utilities.