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The Red Rock Hydro Project: How Missouri River Energy Services Powered a Nonpowered Dam
The Red Rock Dam and Hydro Project.
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dding hydropower facilities to nonpowered dams is an increasingly popular way to create new noncarbon power generation resources without having to build new reservoirs or dams. Missouri River Energy Services (MRES), a joint action agency that brings together 61 municipal utilities in the upper Midwest, recently added a hydro plant to the federally owned Red Rock Dam on the Des Moines River in Iowa. In this interview, we speak with Brent Moeller, MRES’s director of generation resources, and Ray Wahle. MRES’s senior vice president of power supply and operations, about the challenges and benefits of the Red Rock Hydro Project (RRHP). Hydro Leader: Please tell us about your backgrounds and how you came to be in your current positions.
Ray Wahle: I’m the senior vice president of power supply and operations at MRES. I’ve been here for 42 years.
14 | HYDRO LEADER | April 2021
Hydro Leader: Please tell us about MRES as a company. Ray Wahle: MRES is a joint action agency, which means that we were formed by and are owned by our members. Our members are the 61 municipal utilities I mentioned. Each one of those member communities owns its own electrical distribution system. Our primary function is to provide power supply, energy, and transmission services to those members. Over the years, we have developed a suite of other energy services that we provide to them as well, including energy efficiency rebate programs for their customers, rate studies for the utilities themselves, and distribution maintenance crews to support communities that need help delivering reliable services. We also have a host of technical services and other support services for our members.
PHOTOS COURTESY OF MRES.
Brent Moeller: I’ve been with MRES since 2008. I serve as the director of generation resources. I am a registered professional engineer in the state of South Dakota. I originally started out in the utility business and worked at a nuclear facility for 12 years. I then moved into project management with industrial pumps, steel fabrication, and things of that nature before coming back to the utility business again about 12 years ago. That’s how I got here.
I started after I graduated from college with a degree in electrical engineering. I am a registered professional engineer in the state of South Dakota and have an MBA. In my 42 years at MRES, I’ve filled various roles of increasing responsibility. I am responsible for the operations, maintenance, and construction of our power plant and transmission facilities. We serve 61 municipal utilities located in Iowa, Minnesota, North Dakota, and South Dakota. MRES provides other electrical services to those communities as well.
