Niles council to buy shares in hydroelectric project

BY JORDAN COHEN

VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT

NILES — City council has approved an agreement to purchase a share of the Meldahl Hydroelectric Project under construction in Hamilton, Ohio, which, sponsors say, will eventually lessen the Niles’ reliance on higher-priced coal for its electricity.

“Hydro power protects against increases like we’ve had with coal,” said Michael Migliore, an assistant vice president of American Municipal Power, Inc. (AMP). “We’re looking at significantly higher prices [for coal], and there could be a carbon tax down the road.”

AMP, which had suggested the city pursue the agreement, is a joint organization of communities in Ohio and five other states that operate their own public power utilities. In Trumbull County, Niles, Newton Falls and Hubbard purchase their power through AMP.

Migliore said that Niles “needs to diversify its portfolio” of energy resources.

The city purchases from a variety of resources including coal, hydroelectric and diesel through AMP, but coal makes up the biggest portion — 50 percent. The AMP executive provided figures showing that the city’s cost per kilowatt-hour of coal had skyrocketed by nearly 78 percent in 2009 above what it paid in 2008.

“The price of coal is killing us right now,” said Mayor Ralph Infante.

Hydroelectric power is produced by the gravitational force of falling water and is considered a green energy resource because it is renewable. Niles purchases hydroelectric power from several plants, but the new agreement constitutes its largest hydroelectric investment.

The 129 communities that belong to AMP would share the cost of the new facility, which is not expected to go online until 2014. The initial price of hydroelectric energy will be high at the outset, but that will change, according to AMP representatives.

“The most responsible thing we can do is to protect Niles against fossil fuel costs,” said Edward McCormick, D-4th, chairman of council’s utilities committee. “It will take 20 years to pay it off, but after that, we’ll be providing stable rates and green energy for our children and grandchildren.”

Niles has been purchasing electricity through AMP since the mid-1980s.