Lodamun

[imperialpearl]

The Kregon Plateau Authority, the regional utility providing electricity for much of Berkwaki and parts of northern Millford, has announced plans to construct a hydroelectric power plant in the basin as part of renewed plans for an expansion of power generation infrastructure among the three entities. In a press statement issued earlier last week, the authority stated that the proposed plant, which by its own estimate would produce some 10 megawatts of electricity, would be its first major infrastructure investment in decades and would likely spur future investments by the utility in the future into other renewable energy sources, including solar, wind and potentially geothermal. The plant construction comes amidst a renewed effort by the federal government to rein in the nation’s otherwise exorbitant spending on fossil fuels. President William Stedman, an environmental scientist, is seeking to refocus domestic energy projects towards renewables and intends to use the Civil Projects Administration, the Rural Development Administration and the regional utilities as the executing arms of the administration’s ‘clandestine’ green agenda. The authority noted that the plant, once constructed, could cost around 800 million LOD and would likely become the largest hydroelectric dam in the state, dwarfing other facilities such as the Dawson Reservoir Power Plant and the Mencord Generating Station. In its statement, the authority explained that the proposed hydroelectric dam would be unique, as it would likely be the nation’s first pump-storage plant. Pump-storage plants utilise two reservoirs at differing elevations, pumping water from the lower reservoir to the upper reservoir during periods of low demand. During periods of high demand, stored water is released from the upper reservoir, flowing downhill through turbines which generate electricity. Water in the lower reservoir is pumped back up into the upper reservoir, thus restarting the cycle. Eugene Sweeney, a civil engineer and resident of Lanson, where the power plant is expected to be constructed, stated that there were certain risks associated with reservoirs of the nature proposed by the authority. “The sheer weight of these reservoirs can place increased vertical stress on the underlying rock formations, which could destabilise the reservoir itself and trigger a devastating collapse,” Sweeney explained.