By Abby Bell
Cloverland’s 122-year-old hydroelectric plant is one of the cooperatives’ most valuable assets, ensuring affordable and reliable energy for its 34,000 members across the Eastern Upper Peninsula (EUP). Water from the St. Mary’s River flows through the power canal, converting the water to energy through the generators at the cooperative’s historic quarter-mile-long hydroelectric plant. The hydro plant generates around 30 percent of Cloverland's energy, with an additional 20 percent coming from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers hydro plant at the Soo Locks, collectively forming about half of Cloverland's energy mix.
How the Power Canal Works
Water flow through the power canal is regulated by the International Joint Commission (IJC). The IJC’s International Lake Superior Board of Control is responsible for regulating water flow through the 20 foot drop between Lake Superior and Lake Huron through the St. Mary’s River system including the hydro plant at the Soo Locks, the Canadian hydro plant and Cloverland’s hydro plant. Cloverland pays a monthly fee to the IJC for the water allocation.
Water in the canal flows down a two-and-a-quarter-mile path through Sault Ste. Marie, concluding with a 20-foot drop through the horizontal turbines at Cloverland’s hydro plant. Cloverland aims to safeguard its hydroelectric plant and power canal, ensuring an uninterrupted energy supply to the Eastern Upper Peninsula for future generations. Preserving and maintaining the hydro plant not only sustains reliable power but also helps keep Cloverland’s energy rates amongst the lowest in Michigan.
Canal Reinforcement Project
Every five years, Cloverland completes a generation infrastructure study, identifying maintenance areas for the hydro plant and power canal. Canal maintenance has been an ongoing focus, but past repairs were done spot-by-spot on an as-needed basis. Using the holistic approach backed by the infrastructure study, Cloverland adopted a 10-year capital work plan to reinforce and realign canal walls section by section.
The canal reinforcement project is underway through Cloverland’s contractor, Kokosing Marine. While canal wall reinforcement is critical to ensure continual water flow, the contractor must perform the work without impacting daily production at the hydro plant. Cloverland’s Director of Generation, Roger Line, Project Manager, Scott Ellis, and Hydro Plant Manager Mike Panik, work closely with the contractor to ensure hydro production remains paramount during the canal reinforcement project.
Preserving the Canal and Hydro Plant for the Future
The power canal and hydro plant significantly impact Cloverland’s affordable energy rates. Power supply is the highest cost for the cooperative; without the hydro plant’s production, the cooperative would require an additional $1.1 million in purchased power each month.
“Every aspect of what we do inside and outside the plant must be done with the cost of replacement power in mind,” states Line. “Everything that may affect the hydro’s power production, has a financial impact on our budgets and to our members. From day-to-day maintenance activities to long term capital projects, It forces us to find creative solutions when engaging with contractors.”
A team of 14 repairmen and specialists keep that perspective in mind daily as they perform maintenance repairs and preservation work at the hydro plant. In the winter months, the hydro team works inside the plant on generator and turbine maintenance and repairs. Summer months are spent maintaining and preserving exterior exposed hydro infrastructure such as the boom logs and headgates at the entrance to the power canal. The hydro team keeps the cooperative’s critical generation infrastructure operational for this lifetime and the energy needs of the next generation.