Hydro Leader July/August 2021

Leader ydro H VOLUME 12 ISSUE 7

Paul Meeks of Worthington Products: Solutions for Public Safety Around Dams

july/august 2021

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Paul Meeks of Worthington Products: Solutions for Public Safety Around Dams

Contents

July/August 2021 Volume 2, Issue 7 5 S afety, Strategy, and Specialization

By Kris Polly

24 T hordon Bearings’ Reliable, Environmentally Friendly Bearings and Seals

8 Paul

Meeks of Worthington Products: Solutions for Public Safety Around Dams

28 H endrick Screen Company’s CustomTailored Equipment

14 Nicolle

Butcher of Ontario Power Generation: Innovating for Hydro on Both Sides of the Border

38 JOB LISTINGS

Hydro Leader is published 10 times a year with combined issues for July/August and November/December by

an American company established in 2009.

STAFF: Kris Polly, Editor-in-Chief Joshua Dill, Managing Editor Tyler Young, Writer Stephanie Biddle, Graphic Designer Eliza Moreno, Web Designer Caroline Polly, Production Assistant and Social Media Coordinator Cassandra Leonard, Staff Assistant Milo Schmitt, Media Intern SUBMISSIONS: Hydro Leader welcomes manuscript, photography, and art submissions. However, the right to edit or deny publishing submissions is reserved. Submissions are returned only upon request. For more information, please contact our office at (202) 698-0690 or hydro.leader@waterstrategies.com.

ADVERTISING: Hydro Leader accepts half-page and full-page ads. For more information on rates and placement, please contact Kris Polly at (703) 517-3962 or hydro.leader@waterstrategies.com.

CIRCULATION: Hydro Leader is distributed to all hydroelectric facility owners in the United States, to hydrorelated businesses, and to every member of Congress and governor’s office. For address corrections or additions, or if you would prefer to receive Hydro Leader in electronic form, please contact us at admin@waterstrategies.com.

Copyright © 2019 Water Strategies LLC. Hydro Leader relies on the excellent contributions of a variety of natural resources professionals who provide content for the magazine. However, the views and opinions expressed by these contributors are solely those of the original contributor and do not necessarily represent or reflect the policies or positions of Hydro Leader magazine, its editors, or Water Strategies LLC. The acceptance and use of advertisements in Hydro Leader do not constitute a representation or warranty by Water Strategies LLC or Hydro Leader magazine regarding the products, services, claims, or companies advertised. hydroleadermag hydro.leader

Do you have a story idea for an upcoming issue? Contact our editor-in-chief, Kris Polly, at kris.polly@waterstrategies.com.

4 | HYDRO LEADER | July/August 2021

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COVER PHOTO:

Paul Meeks, President and CEO, Worthington Products.

Photo courtesy of Water Strategies.

hydroleadermagazine.com

PHOTO COURTESY OF WATER STRATEGIES.

20 M ike Dupuis of Hydro Tech: From Turbine Overhauls to Bearings

32 D iane Lear of the National Hydropower Association: Previewing the Clean Currents Trade Show and Conference

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Safety, Strategy, and Specialization

H

ydropower facilities use technology to serve society.

These specialized facilities—with their myriad specialized subcomponents—not only provide power for immediate use, they also provide community-shaping recreation opportunities and allow for long-term planning. To enable their success, hydropower professionals focus on making sure that facilities operate safely, fit into a greater strategy, and continually improve through specialized technology.

Beginning with a highly successful line of debris control barriers, Worthington Products has branched out into physical fish guidance systems, security barriers, and public safety signs for dams. In our cover interview, Worthington President and CEO Paul Meeks tells us about the increasing focus on public safety around dams, how his company designed its own highly effective signs, and the prospects for sign standardization across the United States.

Ontario Power Generation (OPG), a major power producer based in Ontario, Canada, is planning for the future by expanding into the United States, introducing new technology, upgrading existing infrastructure, and embracing electrification, all aiming at meeting a climate change strategy of being net zero by 2040. Nicolle Butcher, OPG’s senior vice president for renewable generation and power marketing, tells us more.

We also speak with representatives of three specialty manufacturers who make products for the hydropower industry. Mike Dupuis of Hydro Tech, Inc., tells us about

By Kris Polly

his company’s main business, turbine and generator overhauls, as well as its offerings of oil- and waterlubricated bearings and its research into water bearings for cargo ships and hydroelectric turbines. Ryan Edmonds of Thordon Bearings tells us about the company’s highperformance oil- and grease-free bearing systems, seals, and other shaft line products. And Robert McDole and Cody Veach of Hendrick Screen Company tell us about the company’s fish diversion and water intake screens, airburst cleaning systems, guiderails, and other products.

Finally, Diane Lear of the National Hydropower Association updates us on the upcoming Clean Currents conference, which will be held in October in Atlanta. After a year and a half in which most conferences have been canceled or virtual only, Clean Currents promises to be a homecoming for the entire hydro industry.

By continually advancing their facilities’ safety, strategy, and specialization, hydropower professionals are ensuring that hydropower will play a pivotal role in the U.S. energy landscape for decades to come. H Kris Polly is the editor-in-chief of Hydro Leader magazine and the president and CEO of Water Strategies LLC, a government relations firm he began in February 2009 for the purpose of representing and guiding water, power, and agricultural entities in their dealings with Congress, the Bureau of Reclamation, and other federal government agencies. He may be contacted at kris.polly@waterstrategies.com.

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Hydro Leader magazine is published by Water Strategies LLC.

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Paul Meeks of Worthington Products: Solutions for Public Safety Around Dams

I

n 1995, Paul Meeks was a struggling manufacturer’s representative for a little-known maker of log booms.

When his client went bankrupt in early 2001, he saw an opportunity and purchased the TUFFLOAT product line from the original manufacturer. Thus began a long journey in the hydro industry that has seen the company he founded, Worthington Products, expand beyond debris booms into fish guidance systems, public safety boat barriers, and now signage.

By recognizing a need for a good standard for public safety signs specifically targeted toward dam owners, Worthington has become a U.S. leader in the field. In this interview, Mr. Meeks tells us about the wide range of products his company creates for dam owners and operators.

Hydro Leader: Please tell us about your background.

8 | HYDRO LEADER | July/August 2021

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PHOTOS COURTESY OF WORTHINGTON PRODUCTS.

This 720-foot-long Worthington fish guidance barrier, seen here before, during, and after installation at Bonneville Dam on the Columbia River, guides migrating salmon to the surface bypass for safe passage downstream.

Paul Meeks: I am the president, CEO, and founder of Worthington Products. The company officially started in 2001, although I was involved in the industry and related products for several years prior. We started with a single waterway barrier product, primarily intended for debris control. That product, TUFFBOOM, is now recognized worldwide as an industry standard. Our business and our reputation quickly grew over the years. Today, we have products in 63 countries. We have production alliances in Brazil, Canada, France, India, Poland, Portugal, and Turkey.

We use those production alliances to support our worldwide installation base.

As we gained exposure, we recognized additional needs that our clients had. This led to an ever-increasing range of product solutions. Those include terrorist security barriers.

Currently, we are in the midst of a multiyear project to protect all the French navy’s ports and vessels. We started by protecting its nuclear-powered submarine fleet, and at the end of this year, we will move into the larger ports.

We found that by modifying our larger debris barriers, we could offer highly effective physical fish guidance systems. To ensure that our guidance systems would be designed to maximum effectiveness, we retained the services of a professional fisheries biologist. Now, we have fish guidance systems on both coasts of the United States, and as I like to joke, we are preventing the fish from becoming sushi.

Worthington's safety booms and signs.

More recently, we identified a need for a more robust public safety measures around dams. The industry often lumps public safety within the dam safety realm. I firmly believe that public safety needs to stand on its own legs and be treated as a separate entity. Dam safety is about preventing dam failures, which are rare, historically speaking, and have not caused many deaths. By comparison, deaths and injuries that occur when people recreate around dams are significantly more common. Just this morning, I read of a man in Georgia who lost his life below a Georgia Power dam when the surge in the tailrace occurred as it started generating. Georgia Power had a siren warning system in place, but the man apparently did not understand the meaning of the siren due to a language issue. This makes me wonder whether Georgia Power had signage below the dam to warn people of the dangerous waters and whether those signs had pictographs or alternate languages targeted to a specific local population. This is not an isolated incident, which is why public safety has become such an important focus for Worthington Products.

We started our public safety effort around 2010, working with Canadian utilities, which were implementing their public safety around dams guidelines. I serve on several public-safety-around-dams working committees to support and encourage best practices for public safety in an effort to reduce fatalities and injuries caused by interactions at and around dams. I believe that in the next 5 years, we will see a dramatically different landscape in the United States regarding public safety around dams. This will be good for dam owners and the industry in general. hydroleadermagazine.com

Hydro Leader: Having installed booms in 63 countries, you’ve seen a wide variety of safety measures. What effective measures have you seen abroad?

Paul Meeks: There’s good news and bad news on the international front. The good news is that the interest in public safety is increasing significantly. We participate in the public-safety-around-dams committees of the International Commission on Large Dams (ICOLD), the Association of State Dam Safety Officials, and the U.S. Society on Dams. The ICOLD committee now has more than 23 member countries. This is phenomenal, and it demonstrates how dam owners and utilities across the globe recognize the growing importance of sound public safety around dams measures.

Historically, international dam owners and utilities have been more focused on using waterway barriers for debris control rather than for public safety around dams. This is especially true in developing nations. That is partly because people in the United States and Canada are active, mobile, and affluent. We spend more time on the water using jet skis, paddle boards, kayaks, canoes, and fishing boats than people elsewhere. However, due in large part to notable incidents, public safety is gaining traction internationally as well. Significant incidents in Brazil have led that country to begin requiring dam owners to implement more stringent safety measures above and below dams. The main utility in Belize adopted the guidelines of the Canadian Dam Association (CDA). There’s a large effort underway July/August 2021| HYDRO LEADER

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ADVERTISEMENT throughout Europe and in the developed nations. The undeveloped nations have other priorities, though that is changing. We are working with Uganda Electric Generating Company, the state-owned utility of the country of Uganda.

There was a notable incident at the Kira Dam last August, when the wife and child of a prominent citizen were swept through some open spill gates and died. That made international news. Even in a country like Uganda, people are starting to recognize that they need measures in place around these dams, because people are starting to recreate and interact above and below these dams more.

Hydro Leader: What are some examples of things that can be done?

10 | HYDRO LEADER | July/August 2021

Hydro Leader: Is Worthington’s signage based on the Canadian model?

Paul Meeks: Our sign program is rooted in both the Canadian model and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ EP310 standard. However, the CDA standards and the Army Corps standards are both based on the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) sign standard Z535.2. The challenge with that ANSI document is that it’s lengthy and difficult and is targeted to a wide audience. What we have done is to take the ANSI, CDA, and Army Corps standards and consolidate them into to a much smaller, easier-to-digest document targeted specifically toward dam owners.

Hydro Leader: So your company provides signage for those who would like it?

Paul Meeks: We do. We have an excellent sign program specifically for dam owners. I will admit, however, that sometimes we get a bit snarky with our customers. They call us for sign advice, but they really just want to to replace the old, and I will say, inadequate, signs without change. That does not make sense. They have an opportunity to put proper signs in, and in most cases it does not even add any costs.

I gave a presentation last week to a hydro conference on signage with about 150 participants. I used the example of a bad sign I had recently seen to make a point about signage.

The sign stated that the waters beyond it were closed to boating, sailing, floating, and swimming and said to “stay out of the area behind the sign.” Wow! Isn’t the dam owner really just telling people “Hey, there is a dam up ahead and we want you to stay out of this area”? So why not say it?

Worthington would use the DANGER headline, but instead of the short paragraph on the sign I described, line 2 would say, “Dam Ahead,” and below that, “Keep Out.” That’s much easier to read than the short novel on the current sign. A lot of education needs to take place, and it is taking place throughout the industry. hydroleadermagazine.com

PHOTOS COURTESY OF WORTHINGTON PRODUCTS.

Paul Meeks: Signage, booms and buoys, audible devices, and public outreach. These are the areas where dam owners can focus.

Let’s start with signage. Signage around dams is often a great first step to alert people to potential dangers. In his training sessions, Tony Bennett, the former president of the CDA and the chair of the ICOLD committee for public safety around dams, explains that while people think of hydropower plants as places with many recreational opportunities, they are in fact industrial power production facilities. A nuclear power plant, a gas-fired plant, or a coalfired power plant is likely to be surrounded by fences and inaccessible. Yet at hydropower plants, we’re able to bring our boats right up to the draft tubes and intakes. Signage is one of the first ways we can at least alert the public that this is a dangerous place and that they should not be here.

We got involved in signage because Canada has fantastic, consistent guidelines for signage. These guidelines are not imposed by law, but dam owners have adopted them and follow them because they make sense. We don’t have that in the United States. Here, signs are all different colors and have text of all different sizes. Worthington decided that we could not afford to wait for the authorities in the United States to come up with standards for these things. There are simply too many deaths occurring, and something needed to be done. So we created a sign division to start letting people know what proper public safety signage is, where signs should be located, and how they should look. Federal and state authorities are all working toward new sign standards, but as we all know, the wheels of government turn a bit slower than those of private industry.

After signage comes booms and buoys, which provide a physical barrier to prevent a boat from getting into a dangerous area. Many fatalities and incidents around dams occur because a boat’s engine either fails, won’t start, or is underpowered for the current. When this happens, the boat gets sucked upstream into a boil zone below open spill gates just below the tailrace. The boat loses buoyancy and submerges. Other times, the boat gets drawn through open floodgates or impinges on intake trash racks.

I mentioned the death in Georgia, but there was another incident recently in Kansas in which a mother, her 3- and

5‑year-old children, and her husband were boating when their engine cut out. They got drawn into a low-head dam.

The husband survived, but the mother and her two children did not. Stories like these tear at your heart. I’ve made it my company’s mission that we will do all we can to prevent incidents like this from occurring.

Third, there are audible devices, which are typically placed below a dam to alert people downstream that a spill gate is going to be opening or power generation is going to start, which typically indicates that water levels will rise rapidly. We are not involved with audible devices; our focus is on booms and buoys and on signage.

Finally, there is public outreach by the utilities and dam owners. Local groups who recreate on and around dams should be contacted annually and educated about the power plants, their operations, and the dangers associated with them.

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Short and to the point, Worthington's safety signs leave members of the public with no doubt as to the potential dangers posed by dam facilities.

Hydro Leader: What are your thoughts on how national standards should be adopted?

Paul Meeks: The good news is that the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has actually recognized that we have inadequate signage around dams. Currently, there is a working group at FEMA that will come out with a document titled Best Practices for Signage Around Dams. The industry is eagerly anticipating this document; the utilities really want some guidance. I use the word guidance intentionally, because what we don’t want to see is legislation. We have plenty of laws on the books already. If a utility has an incident, any astute attorney would question whether the utility was aware of the best practices of the CDA, FEMA, and other entities. In other words, there is a standard of care based on industry leading practices. The fear of legal action is probably enough to encourage utilities to adopt these standards. Some states have put laws in place.

Pennsylvania was the first. Representative Gillespie passed legislation requiring the owners of low-head dams to put public safety signs above and below them. The reason for that law is that there’s one dam in downtown Harrisburg where there have been over 37 fatalities. The last one occurred just about a year and a half ago. Indiana is working on legislation guidance for low-head dams as well.

Hydro Leader: Is there anything else that you’d like to add on the topic of safety?

Paul Meeks: As dam owners and engineers advising dam owners, it’s incumbent on us to do all that we can to educate the public about the risks and dangers of dams so that they do not risk severe injury or death. That involves outreach to local canoe clubs, boating clubs, the Boy Scouts, the Girl Scouts, and all types of people who use the water. You can hydroleadermagazine.com

install signs, booms, buoys, and audible devices, but if you’re not educating the public and the groups that are using these waterways about those measures, you’re selling yourself short on an overall public safety plan.

Hydro Leader: How have dam owners and operators reacted to these new standards?

Paul Meeks: A couple of years ago, there was some hesitation, but there have been so many publicized incidents since then that we’re seeing a real desire on the part of electric utilities and dam owners to have proper signage up.

They often say that there’s no guidance out there on what to use, and they’re excited about having a standard coming in.

At the Tennessee Valley Authority, one dam alone has had a fatality each year for the last 5 years. They were all caused by the same thing: a boat motor conking out and the boat drifting into the boil zone below floodgates. The signage on the dam was totally inadequate. We’re seeing a lot of these utilities actually assign a manager for public safety around dams. In the past, it was part of the dam safety manager’s job, but now you’re seeing utilities assign an individual who understands proper public safety policies. Regulators have also really stepped up their efforts in their annual guidance and annual letters to their licensees to require a robust public safety around dams plan. It has become mainstream, and fortunately, we’re not seeing too much resistance to that. H Paul Meeks is the president and CEO of Worthington Products. He can be contacted at pmeeks@tuffboom.com or (330) 452‑7400.

July/August 2021| HYDRO LEADER

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Nicolle Butcher of Ontario Power Generation: Innovating for Hydro on Both Sides of the Border

Nicolle Butcher visits OPG’s Sir Adam Beck Generating Station in August 2020.

H

Hydro Leader: Please tell us about your background and how you came to be in your current position.

14 | HYDRO LEADER | July/August 2021

Nicolle Butcher: My background is actually in finance, and I have an MBA, but I have been with OPG for a little over 20 years. I have moved throughout a number of different areas in the company, including corporate, thermal, and nuclear. My most recent position before my current one was as the corporate business development and strategy lead. During my time in that position, we pursued a growth strategy that led to a number of acquisitions in the United States related to hydro. After we completed those over the last 3–4 years, it was something of a natural transition for me to go into our hydro operations and learn more about our operations in Ontario, while still retaining accountability for our acquisitions in the United States.

Hydro Leader: Please tell us about OPG. Nicolle Butcher: OPG has about 20,000 MW of capacity, primarily nuclear and hydro. We also have some thermal generation, since as a part of the acquisition process I hydroleadermagazine.com

PHOTOS COURTESY OF OPG.

ydropower has and will continue to play in important role in the United States and Canada as renewable energy is increasingly prioritized in both countries. To meet self-imposed or government-mandated renewable energy goals while satisfying increasing demands for energy, hydro providers will need to innovate to maximize every megawatt (MW) of power and minimize harmful environmental effects. Ontario Power Generation (OPG) is a Canadian electricity producer that is striving to do exactly that by expanding its portfolio to more forms of energy, with assets in both Canada and the United States.

In this article, Nicolle Butcher, OPG’s senior vice president for renewable generation and power marketing, tells Hydro Leader how the company’s portfolio and strategies have evolved, how OPG is working with stakeholders to meet current and future challenges, and about the importance of inspiring and providing opportunity for the next generation of hydro leaders.

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A bird’s-eye view of OPG’s Sir Adam Beck Generating Station.

mentioned, we bought a number of gas plants in Ontario and now have about 3,000 MW of gas. We have a 2,000 MW oil-gas dual fuel station, some biomass, and solar. Everything outside nuclear falls under my organization and my team.

Hydro Leader: What can you tell us about the differences between working in the various fields you have been a part of, and how have you benefited from that breadth of experience?

Nicolle Butcher: I was in different roles in those different organizations. When I was in thermal, we were focused on building new gas plants. It was very much a project- and construction-focused job. When I went into nuclear, the job focused on preparing for a major refurbishment of our nuclear plants. It also gave me insight into the distinctive elements of the nuclear culture. Coming into hydro, both through the process of acquiring Eagle Creek Renewable Energy and in my hydroleadermagazine.com

new position, I see the cultural differences. For example, hydro is spread throughout the province, which is immense, and this drives a distinctive culture in different areas of the province.

Hydro Leader: Would you tell us about the long-term growth strategy you mentioned, and how it led OPG to acquire Eagle Creek and other entities?

Nicolle Butcher: In 2016, we stepped back to assess the effect that the closure of one of our nuclear plants would have. At the time, we planned to close it in 2020, but now it’s scheduled to close in 2024. The effect that losing that many MW would have on the company drove us to figure out how we want to grow. We went through a process of assessing the industry and our opportunities for growth. We couldn’t grow through our traditional process of building a new plant in Ontario, so we had to look at other alternatives.

That drove us to look at a number of new things. For instance, we had never operated outside Ontario before July/August 2021| HYDRO LEADER

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ADVERTISEMENT we made the Eagle Creek acquisition. Expanding into the United States, expanding technology, and moving into combined-cycle gas turbine technology were all big steps for us. We also had a major innovation focus, including disruptive innovation, which drove us to look at storage technologies, such as batteries and pump storage, and at electrification, which drove us to consider how we may want to influence the broader adoption of electrification for personal vehicles and mass transit. The growth strategy led us into the United States. Eagle Creek was a good fit for us because it dealt with small hydro, which is a technology we understand well, and it operated in markets that we had traded in for years. We felt like we understood the market and the technology. The regulatory piece is a bit different in the United States, and that was something we had to learn about, but we felt like we had a real base understanding of those operations. We followed up quickly on the heels of the Eagle Creek acquisition with the purchase of Cube Hydro. We’ve spent the last year or so working to integrate those two acquisitions and to establish a strong operating organization in the United States.

Hydro Leader: Does OPG’s desire to drive electrification affect the way you operate your hydro infrastructure?

Nicolle Butcher: Going down the path toward electrification freed us up to be able to come up with our climate change strategy. Our climate change strategy is to be net zero by 2040, which is a real challenge. We’re looking at creative ways to reduce the carbon produced in the gas plants, but also how to build around that, including electrification. Even if we have to use the gas plants to peak, it still makes more sense to use that energy to power mass transit or electric vehicles. There’s a really good fit there.

Hydrogen also falls under our electrification umbrella. That’s one of the areas we just announced. We’re looking at pilot projects at one of our hydro plants to use hydrogen production in conjunction with providing automatic generation control services to the grid. That will help us advance toward our 2040 goals from a climate change perspective.

Hydro Leader: How many pumped hydro plants do you currently have, and are you planning to build more in the future?

Hydro Leader: How does hydropower fit into OPG’s climate change plan?

16 | HYDRO LEADER | July/August 2021

Hydro Leader: Would you tell us about OPG’s efforts to get more MW out of existing infrastructure through upgrades?

Nicolle Butcher: As part of our hydro overhaul program, we look at how to upgrade the runners to make our plants more efficient. Our aim is not to replace like for like, but instead to do an analysis to ensure that we’re getting the best out of the next 30–50 years of a given plant, recognizing that we need every MWh we can get out of hydro to meet our climate change goals.

Hydro Leader: What else is distinctive about OPG’s hydro operations?

Nicolle Butcher: One unique aspect of OPG in Canada is our relationship with indigenous communities. We have four stations that are equity partnerships with First Nation partners—they helped us determine how to construct and operate the facilities and actually own equity in them.

These relationships help us throughout operations. They allow us to build capacity within the First Nations and to make sure we have the services and skills we need. Often, the communities around the First Nations are small, and these partnerships help build our capacity to operate those facilities efficiently, including through education or apprenticeship programs.

hydroleadermagazine.com

PHOTOS COURTESY OF OPG.

Nicolle Butcher: We have one in Niagara Falls with a capacity of about 175 MW. It has been there for many years, tied to our Niagara facilities. We are also in the process of developing a 400 MW pumped storage plant in an old mine.

We’re remediating some of the environmental effects of the mine through the pumped storage facility.

Nicolle Butcher: Refurbishing and redeveloping our existing hydro assets is a fundamental basis for the plan.

We’ve been operating hydro for 100 years; our challenge from a climate change perspective is to make sure we’re operating it for another 100. We are looking at our existing hydro and making sure we’re overhauling it. Our fleet’s average age is 80 years. We are primed for overhauls right now and are actually starting a $2.5 billion overhaul program that will make sure that we extend the life of those plants and don’t lose any of our clean megawatthours (MWh). We have a program to look at how to redevelop those plants as they come to the end of their lives in a way that allows us to make better use of the capacity and energy. We’re also looking at some greenfield development, which are long-term projects. We have had greenfield development over the last 10–15 years: We built the Peter Sutherland Sr. facility, which is a facility of about 28 MW north of Timmins, Ontario. It came into service in 2017, so it’s fairly recent. From a climate change perspective, we also look at both adaptation and mitigation. Our rivers are changing; how do we prepare for that from a dam safety perspective? We need to ensure that the facilities we have can withstand potential new flood levels as well as other changes. What happens from a water management perspective if you have more water or less water? All those adaptation and mitigation concerns fall under our climate change plan.

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Turbines at OPG’s Ranney Falls Generating Station, located in Campbellford, Ontario, which is being upgraded from 10 to 20 MW.

Jessica Polak and Nicolle Butcher at OPG’s Sir Adam Beck Generating Station.

Hydro Leader: How should the hydro industry be recruiting young people or encouraging them to get into the hydro business?

OPG's 14 MW Lower Sturgeon Generating Station, located north of Timmins, Ontario.

Nicolle Butcher: Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics programs and women in trades programs are helpful. How do we encourage students at the high school and college levels in Canada to take an interest in hydro and make sure that we have an inclusive environment when we do hire women in trades? I think that’s an area that, as an industry, we need to work to get better at.

Hydro Leader: What is your vision for the future?

Hydro Leader: Would you tell us about your experience as a woman leader in the hydro industry?

Nicolle Butcher: It’s been interesting. I would say it’s harder when you’re at lower levels in the organization.

There’s a glass ceiling that you need to break through, and it takes a lot of energy to get there. Now that I am where I am, there’s less of that. I’m considered an equal player on our executive team and externally. While I think hydro is not as diverse as we’d like it to be, I don’t feel like there’s anything holding us back. What I spend my time on is making sure that the women who are at the first-linemanager level have the support and guidance they need to break through and advance so that we have enough women coming up in the ranks to help us with the diversity issue as we go forward.

hydroleadermagazine.com

Nicolle Butcher: Hydro is our underpinning to get us where we need to be on our climate change goals for 2040. The vision is to be an excellent operator and to look for every opportunity to get an additional MWh out through our overall programs, to maximize the capacity and energy efficiencies that we can drive through innovation, and to find areas in which can we continue to expand our hydro resources. H Nicolle Butcher is the senior vice president for renewable generation and power marketing at Ontario Power Generation.

For more about OPG, visit opg.com.

July/August 2021| HYDRO LEADER

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Mike Dupuis of Hydro Tech: From Turbine Overhauls to Bearings

Engineered drawings for a complete Francis turbine located in Maine.

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ntario-based Hydro Tech, Inc., performs turbine and generator overhauls, provides overhauls and bearings for hydropower facilities, and performs a number of other vital services for the hydro industry. In addition to its core mechanical engineering expertise, it also provides both oil- and water-lubricated bearings and is initiating a 3‑year research and development project on bearings with a partner company in South Korea. In this interview, Hydro Tech Founder and President Mike Dupuis tells Hydro Leader about his company’s wide range of products and services.

Hydro Leader: Please tell us about your background and how you came to be in your current position.

20 | HYDRO LEADER | July/August 2021

Hydro Leader: How large is the company today?

Mike Dupuis: Our Canadian company, Hydro Tech, Inc., currently has two offices: one in Niagara Falls, Ontario, and our head office in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario. Our U.S. company, Hydro Tech USA, is located in Brunswick, Maine.

In addition, I have a partner, Russell Industries, that I brought on in 2016 to help me grow the company. Between our two companies, we’re about 250 people, and the revenue reflects that.

Hydro Tech is largely technically based, so we have engineers, supervisors, and support staff for those engineers and supervisors. Hydro Tech is a small part of the 250 total employees of the two partner companies. While not a large company, we are a highly skilled team that is always growing.

We have hired four people since January and are always looking for more good candidates. We have been getting some good, qualified applicants recently, which was not always the case when we were a new and relatively unknown company. Now that we are recognized in the industry, people are starting to gravitate toward us. If all goes well, we’ll bring on a few more hires this year and keep going from there.

As a mechanical hydro company, we can take care of just about any kind of overhaul, but if we’re going to be the lead, mechanical engineering should be the main thrust of the project. hydroleadermagazine.com

PHOTO COURTESY OF HYDRO TECH .

Mike Dupuis: I am a mechanical engineering technologist.

Prior to founding Hydro Tech, I worked for a regional hydroelectric company for 9 years. I was the group leader for an area covering seven power stations and was responsible for projects and maintenance with a multidisciplinary crew of electricians, programmable logic controller maintenance people, and millwrights. By the time I left that company, I had obtained two trade tickets in the mechanical field, which made me well suited for my position at that company. It was an excellent job, and my boss and coworkers were great, but it wasn’t providing the challenge that I was looking for. I wanted more and left on good terms to start my company.

I founded Hydro Tech in 2001. At that point, it was just me working from my basement as a one-man consulting operation.

In 2005, the opportunity arose to start hiring employees for larger, long-term contracts, and things grew from there.

ADVERTISEMENT Hydro Leader: How did you decide to partner with Russell Industries?

Mike Dupuis: Financing was a big issue for me. When I was on my own, I was forced to turn down some projects. A lot of companies get ahead of themselves by taking on too much work and then find that they can’t finance their projects.

From the time one signs a contract to the time one gets paid, one must complete large parts of the project and still meet payroll. In 2015, I was simultaneously doing overhauls in the United States, installing all the generators and turbines at two new plants in northern Ontario, installing some of our biggest gates ever in British Columbia, and doing a few other large projects. I was still financing the business out of my pocket, and I was able to do it, but it was a high-pressure year for me. In 2016, I partnered up with Daniel Russell of Russell Industries. I had already been doing business with Daniel for many years, as he owns some of the manufacturing shops that we were working with, and so we were very familiar with each other. We joined forces, and Russell Industries now provides the financing for our larger projects. It’s also great to have someone like Daniel to discuss business directions and initiatives with.

Hydro Leader: Do you do your own manufacturing?

Mike Dupuis: Russell Industries owns some manufacturing facilities, but for turbine and generator parts we generally use other manufacturers. Some of our projects involve large, heavy turbine and generator components, and it’s more cost effective for us to shop those large pieces out than to manufacture or repair them in house. It’s taken a few years, but we’ve developed some really strong working relationships with a variety of manufacturers. We know the shops that can do rough machining for our generalgrade parts and fine machining for our high-grade parts.

Our engineers design the parts, and we provide a stringent quality-control program for those shops to follow.

Hydro Leader: How is your business split between bearing manufacturing overhauls, maintenance gate installations, metrology, and engineering?

Mike Dupuis: A little under 50 percent of it is in turbine and generator overhauls. About one-third of our business is just straight bearings. The last sliver is everything else, which is mostly a mixture of FARO laser tracker metrology and gate work.

Hydro Leader: Please tell us about your bearings.

Mike Dupuis: We’re trying to become a bearing manufacturer that can support whatever bearing is required, but we don’t have anything to do with roller bearings—if we need roller bearings, we buy them from somebody else. Our bearing specialties are either oil-lubricated or water-lubricated. For oil bearings, we use either Babbitt or polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE), which is basically Teflon. For water bearings, we use many different materials. The one we feel is the best is lignum vitae, which comes from the lignum vitae tree.

PHOTO COURTESY OF CANADIAN BABBITT BEARINGS, LTD.

Hydro Leader: So lignum vitae is a kind of wood?

This four-segment bolted thrust bearing runner plate is 112.5 inches in diameter; the bearing supports over 522 tons of force. This unique design replaced a floating 4-segmented floating runner plate that was causing bearing failure within 3 years. The new upgrades have been in continuous operation since 2009 in Ghana.

hydroleadermagazine.com

Mike Dupuis: Yes. It’s strange that despite all of mankind’s scientific advancements, the old wood bearing is still by far the best one out there. Bearings can be made of rubber, plastics, and composite pressed compounds, but lignum vitae is still the best material out there. Hydro Tech is not a sales representative for lignum vitae—we just pick the material for the application, and usually lignum vitae is the best for bearings. It’s a dense wood— if you drop it in a pail of water, it sinks to the bottom. What makes lignum vitae better than any other tree is the unique gum in the wood, which seems to provide better lubrication than anything else. It is the gum that allows the steel shaft to slide over the wood. The gum doesn’t wear away; it just seems to stay there and provide that required slippery surface.

Hydro Leader: Does Hydro Tech sell its products internationally?

July/August 2021| HYDRO LEADER

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ADVERTISEMENT Mike Dupuis: When it comes to our hydro-related lines of business, we complete generator and turbine overhauls and gate installations across the United States and Canada. We supply and service bearings around the world, but we do not offer our full range of services internationally, as onsite work is more complicated the farther away from home you get.

Hydro Leader: How are environmental regulations affecting your business?

Mike Dupuis: That’s more of a problem for our clients than it is for us. For example, there are some environmental issues with bearings. Some bearings are oil lubricated, and oil spills can cause environmental damage. Just spilling a gallon of oil is a disaster. We’re in the process of converting some oil bearings to water bearings. This includes plants where turbines are working fine but where there are problems with water flooding the turbine, which can cause oil to be released into the river. If a plant floods after the conversion to water bearings, the environmental risk has been eliminated. We’ve done conversions of this type quite a few times now; it’s becoming more common. Environmental regulations on these types of issues help our business, as we have the ability to solve them.

More generally, hydro is a green energy, so it benefits from green energy requirements. Further, hydroelectric power supports intermittent green energy sources, like wind and solar, as a sort of battery. Since water can be stored behind a dam and used to create power quickly, many power producers use their stored water like a battery. Some utilities have reduced the amount of waterpower they produce in year; they use their hydro sites to balance peak energy consumptions.

They get paid to be reliable, not necessarily to generate. As green energy sources of various kinds come online, our hydro turbine maintenance business will increase. We will work to maintain generators and get them in the best reliable state.

Hydro Leader: What are your other top issues today?

22 | HYDRO LEADER | July/August 2021

Mike Dupuis: Our focus is on efficiency, reliability, and green-powered working products.

Hydro Leader: Have you had issues related to materials and costs?

Mike Dupuis: Costs have recently increased for some of our oil bearings. The Babbitt material has doubled in price over the last 6 months. Everything we need seems to be available, but the prices are fluctuating. These costs are being passed on to our clients, unfortunately. We’re not gouging, but our prices reflect the changes in the market. Some of it seems to be caused by inflation, and some costs appear to be caused by high demand or low supply. To date, we have always been able to get supplies as needed.

Hydro Leader: Please tell us about your acquisition of North American PTFE. Mike Dupuis: We acquired North American PTFE in 2017.

For many years, we had been purchasing our PTFE bearing pads from a Russian company called EnEnergo, and North American PTFE was EnEnergo’s only licensed distributor in North America. PTFE bearing technology was developed in Russia in the 1970s, 30 years before it was ever installed in North America. Hydro Tech would design the bearings and then get the pads from EnEnergo via North American PTFE. When the owner of North American PTFE decided to retire, I bought him out and took over the North American distributorship contract with EnEnergo.

Hydro Leader: What is your company’s vision for the future?

Mike Dupuis: We plan on doing more overhauls for generators and turbines. That’s a big focus for us, and we seem to be getting more work in that field. We’re also making a big push in bearings with the South Korean company, Movena, that I mentioned earlier. Between our companies, we plan on spending about $1.3 million in research and development over the next 3 years. I expect to increase our bearing business from its current level by at least 200 percent. There is a huge amount of growth potential. We are one of the only suppliers that designs both oil and water bearings, so we have the broad capacity to work on any slide bearing a client requires. H Mike Dupuis is the founder and president of Hydro Tech, Inc., and Hydro Tech USA. He can be reached at info@hydrotech-inc.ca or (705) 946‑3182. For more on Hydro Tech, visit www.hydrotech-inc.ca. hydroleadermagazine.com

PHOTO COURTESY OF HYDRO TECH .

Mike Dupuis: We are currently working on two interesting undertakings. We just invented a turbine journal bearing sleeve that can be installed in the field without any major work, and we have a patent pending on it as of last month. The sleeve is intended to restore the diameter of a shaft and can be installed without disassembling the turbine. Normally, you have to take a turbine shaft to a machine shop to repair a journal bearing sleeve.

We always have somebody at Hydro Tech working on research and development, trying to improve our services.

Earlier this year, we were awarded a grant from the Canadian and Korean governments to work on the research and development of bearings. We are researching water bearings for cargo ships and hydroelectric turbines. This is a collaboration between a company in South Korea called Movena Korea Co. and Hydro Tech. We will be working together over the next 3 years to finalize designs and create an environmentally friendly, well-working bearing.

Hydro Leader: What other problems are your products trying to address?

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Thordon Bearings’ Reliable, Environmentally Friendly Bearings and Seals

Ryan Edmonds carries out an oil-to-water guide bearing conversion in India for Andritz.

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hordon Bearings, Inc., is a family-owned business engaged in the manufacturing of high-performance oil- and grease-free bearing systems, seals, and other shaft line products for the global marine, clean power, pump, and industrial markets. The company is headquartered in Burlington, Ontario. In this interview, Ryan Edmonds, Thordon’s business development manager for hydropower, tells us about the advantages of Thordon’s water-lubricated bearings, Thorseals, and other products.

Hydro Leader: Please tell us about your background and how you came to be in your current position.

24 | HYDRO LEADER | July/August 2021

Hydro Leader: Please tell us about Thordon Bearings’ main product lines.

Ryan Edmonds: Thordon Bearings is a world-leading manufacturer of oil- and grease-free bearing systems and seals for the clean power market. We offer water-lubricated main shaft guide bearings and segmented shaft seals, both radial and axial. Thordon wicket gate, operating mechanism, and linkage bearings operate wet or dry and eliminate the cost, maintenance, and pollution risk associated with greased bearings. We also offer bearings and shaft seal water conditioning systems.

Hydro Leader: How many employees does Thordon have?

Ryan Edmonds: Thordon Bearings has approximately 130 employees, including our sales, manufacturing, and administrative teams. Most of them are based at our hydroleadermagazine.com

PHOTO COURTESY OF THORDON BEARINGS.

Ryan Edmonds: I started working at Thordon Bearings in 2008 as a member of the marketing team. In 2011, I moved to our global service and support department. This position involved significant travel around the world to market and assist with installations of our products. In 2017, I moved to the role of business development manager for our hydropower and pump business. With manufacturing facilities in Canada and Poland and an extensive network of more than 100 distributors throughout the world, Thordon Bearings is truly a global operation. The beauty

of my position is that I can see our customers’ needs and the solutions firsthand. I can then share this knowledge directly with our distributors, which helps our customers and supports the growth of our business.

ADVERTISEMENT Burlington, Ontario, facility, and approximately 15 are at our location in Poland.

Hydro Leader: How do technologies differ in hydro facilities around the world, and how does that affect your business?

Ryan Edmonds: The basic underlying technologies are relatively similar, but generally speaking, the farther east you go, the newer the facilities and technology. For example, in North America, there are operational facilities that were constructed as far back as the late 1890s, but in a place like Vietnam, the oldest hydro facilities only date back to the 1970s. While the functionality of the equipment can be similar, the designs, approaches, and types of equipment often differ. For example, the use of water-lubricated bearings has been pretty standard throughout Russia’s hydropower history. In North America, however, water lubrication was largely replaced by oil lubrication in the 1950s, largely due to the predictable service life of oil-lubricated bearings over the early water-lubricated designs and materials. Environmental concerns and technological advances with polymer bearings and water conditioning systems have seen the pendulum begin to swing back toward water-lubricated approaches, but the shift has been slow in North America.

Hydro Leader: Please tell us about your work in customer service.

Ryan Edmonds: Having come from the service side, it’s particularly important to me to ensure that customer outcomes are successful. When you are working with hydro utilities, each turbine unit can be configured differently, so I like to get on site, see things directly, provide advice, and ensure that installations are being done correctly.

This is particularly important with our product, because while installations are not exceptionally difficult, there are differences. For example, when moving from an oil-lubricated to a water-lubricated system, we want to make sure that the new system is correct and does not result in negative experiences or perceptions. Customers appreciate this attention, and it also provides knowledge that can be used to assist with other customer needs and installations. It really is a win all the way around. This technology also does away with concerns about oil and grease getting into our rivers and lakes.

Hydro Leader: How do your bearings differ from oillubricated bearings?

Ryan Edmonds: In a typical turbine with an oil-lubricated main shaft guide bearing, there is a bottom bearing next to the runner with a seal underneath that keeps water away from it and out of the plant. In our water-lubricated main shaft guide bearing system, the bearing is beside the runner and the seal is on top of the bearing, so the orientation is different. With oil-lubricated bearings, you do not need to hydroleadermagazine.com

account for potential corrosion, so they can run with mild steel shafts. With water-lubricated bearings like Thordon’s, it’s important to have a stainless liner on the shaft or sleeve for running contact to preclude any potential corrosion. But the water system also makes things simpler, because it does not require oil coolers, filters, or the purchase and storage of oil; that also reduces environmental worries.

Our approach provides performance advantages because the bearing is closer to the runner, providing greater support than it would if it were higher up. It stiffens the entire unit, which contributes to smooth performance and can potentially increase efficiency. It is an improvement from a maintenance perspective as well. Having the shaft seal on top means you can work on it while it is operating instead of having to dismantle the guide bearings to service the shaft seal underneath the bearing. You can service and renew a Thordon bearing in a few hours if needed, while the time frame for servicing an oil bearing would be measured in weeks or months. Also, our product is environmentally friendly, because we’re not putting oil on top of the head cover. Those three big advantages to using a water-lubricated bearing in a hydro turbine explain why we are doing so many conversions of existing units from oil- to water-lubricated systems.

Most of these conversions have occurred in Canada, Europe, and Asia. Unfortunately, the pace of those conversions has been much slower in the U.S. market. We believe that sticking with the oil-lubricated model will ultimately not be sustainable, both because of the service and operational efficiencies of water-lubricated systems like ours and because of the longterm downsides of oil lubrication. Thordon Bearings is a green company, and we only support and advocate technologies that are consistent with that mindset.

Hydro Leader: Is the water-lubricated bearing closed to the outside water source, or is it open to the regular water flow?

Ryan Edmonds: Generally, water is diverted from the penstock or the header to flow through the guide bearing. The guide bearing is open to the top of the runner, so the water just continues on. Because there is an abundant water supply in these instances, it is not repeatedly recycled, just pumped through. We sell water quality conditioning and regulation units that assist with this process, and in many cases, customers already have variations of these installed in their plants, which can sometimes work for this process as well. The filtration elements are important, because they ensure that the bearings are being lubricated with clean water. When they are, these systems can last for decades without noteworthy wear. That is why Thordon is able to provide a 25‑year wear life guarantee on propeller shaft bearings in the marine industry. In the hydro market, we offer only a 15‑year wear life guarantee on wicket gate bearings. Our standard marine industry propeller shaft bearing 25‑year wear life guarantee doesn’t apply to main shaft guide bearings because there are too many variables between stations, even though with the right design, reaching 25 July/August 2021| HYDRO LEADER

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years or more of life is achievable. Although we’ve never had unexplainable bearing failures, we want customers to know that they are securing a quality product. We have the operational experience with thousands of applications all over the world, and we are selling about 60,000 bearings a year, including our pump bearings.

Hydro Leader: What are the bearings made of?

Ryan Edmonds: All the bearing running surfaces are nonmetallic. For full-rotation, higher-speed bearing applications, they are elastomeric. We also have thermoplastic wicket gates for higher-load-bearing material. The fullrotation elastomeric polymer products are not designed to carry extremely high loads; they are designed for the limits of the lubricating water. By contrast, the wicket gate material, ThorPlas-Blue, is capable of high pressure, exceeding what’s actually required by several times in slow-moving applications.

While we are proud to know that we have engineered something with that capability, we don’t focus on that in our marketing, since a typical load would never approach that level.

Hydro Leader: Please tell us about Thordon’s Thorseals.

Ryan Edmonds: Thorseals are machined elastomeric seals that are used for wicket gates and many other applications.

One of the trends we are seeing in the industry is that companies are trying to save money by installing rubber seals in such applications. The problem is that, as stated in their design manuals, rubber seals tend to crack and fail after 5–7 years, which is incompatible with the goal of building a turbine that will run for 40–50 years without service. By compromising in the near term, users end up with additional expenses and downtime in the longer term.

Our elastomeric seal does not require that sort of service.

The Thorseal will perform for the life of the equipment it is installed in. Because it is machined to suit the application over its lifetime and never needs to be replaced, the Thorseal’s initial cost is often higher than that of a traditional rubber seal, but the savings on service make it much more cost effective.

Hydro Leader: Do the bearings also have a longer operational life than the equipment they are tied to?

26 | HYDRO LEADER | July/August 2021

Ryan Edmonds: Across the board, metal prices are a lot higher than they were a year ago. That’s not normal, but it’s the same sort of thing we are seeing in most other sectors—lumber, for example. Everyone seems to suggest that these increased prices are related to the COVID‑19 pandemic, but while that has begun to settle, we have not seen the price of metals ease yet. A lot of what we do has a long lead time, but the longer this disruption continues, the more it will affect potential customers’ interest in initiating change and upgrades.

Regulations are certainly not what they should be to eliminate oil and grease from our rivers and lakes. For example, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ specifications are still committed to using grease, even though the rest of the world stopped using grease 25 years ago.

Hydro Leader: What is your company’s vision for the future?

Ryan Edmonds: Our vision is to see oil- and grease-free bearings in every application possible, whether our products or not, because we see their use as an easy way to end a systemic source of water pollution. There are a lot of good solutions out there that don’t require the use of oil and grease next to the waterway. We advocate environmentally friendly solutions in this realm. We have a great deal of interesting information on our website on these matters, and I encourage readers to take a look.

Our ultimate hope is that people take the time to compare product solutions, accurately considering the near- and longterm implications of their decisions. Initially, change may cost a little more, but in the long term, our products are more costeffective, pollute less, and sustain a cleaner environment.

One of the problems with hydro units today is that they are so reliable that if they are built with oil-lubricated applications, they are likely to be causing pollution for 25 years or more. Today, when people do things around their homes, they are quite environmentally responsible and actually stop to think about the effect of their actions on the environment around them. It is important that people begin to translate that level of consciousness to the workplace, and I think we are already beginning to see this to varying degrees. Thordon Bearings has continued to address matters like this through its website, webinars, and other means.

We want to educate the public, regardless of whether we are ultimately the company people decide to work with. H Ryan Edmonds is the business development manager for hydropower at Thordon Bearings Inc. He can be contacted at ryane@thordonbearings.com.

For more about Thordon Bearings, visit www.thordonbearings.com. hydroleadermagazine.com

PHOTO COURTESY OF THORDON BEARINGS.

Ryan Edmonds: It depends on the station. Some hydro stations are rebuilt every 5 years, while others have never been rebuilt in 50. I can say that if the bearings are designed and set up correctly, they will certainly not be the reason the equipment needs to come down for service. We often see comparisons of our material and other materials, and when it comes to waterlubricated wicket gate bearings, we view our products as far ahead of the curve. Similarly, with main shaft guide bearing performance, while there are some valid competitors in this space, we again believe our product is at the top.

Hydro Leader: What other challenges does the company face today?

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Hendrick Screen Company’s Custom-Tailored Equipment

H

endrick Screen Company produces fish diversion and water intake screens, airburst cleaning systems, guiderails, bar racks, blank panels, and other equipment of interest to hydro facilities. The company traces its history back more than 140 years and is still family owned today. In this interview, Robert McDole, Hendrick Screen Company’s vice president and general manager, and Cody Veach, the product manager for the water intake and fish diversion markets, tell us about its custombuilt equipment and its commitment to customer service.

Hydro Leader: Please tell us about your background and how you came to be in your current position.

Robert McDole: I started in the metals industry in 1978, so I’ve been in metal-related businesses for approximately 43 years. I have been in executive management for approximately 30 years, managing business units for manufacturers and distribution companies. I started with Hendrick 11 years ago. We manufacture metal screens, primarily made out of stainless steel and other exotic alloys with a heavy emphasis on fabrication. As the company’s vice president and general manager, my responsibilities include profit/loss, sales, production, and all other facets of the business.

Hendrick’s main screen types: above, a profile bar screen; below, a resistance-welded screen.

Hydro Leader: Please tell us about the organization, its history, and its geographic range.

Hydro Leader: How is your business divided up between those different markets?

Robert McDole: The Hendrick Company was started in the late 1800s by Eli Hendrick, who was the inventor of the perforating press. His ability to start the new business came with seed money from John D. Rockefeller. The company has maintained the name Hendrick throughout its more than 140 years in business. Today, the company is owned by the Drake family, continuing to be a family-owned business.

Hendrick is a worldwide company and ships all over the world, although the majority of our product is sold to customers in North America.

There are three divisions within Hendrick. The two manufacturing divisions are Hendrick Manufacturing, which is the largest family-owned perforator in North America, and Hendrick Screen Company. Hendrick

Robert McDole: Although we consider ourselves a leader in the water intake and fish diversion markets, Hendrick continues to focus heavily on these markets due to demand and growth opportunities. Other target markets include the architectural, food and beverage, industrial, and petrochemical markets.

28 | HYDRO LEADER | July/August 2021

Hydro Leader: Please tell us about your fish diversion screens and your water intake and treatment items.

Robert McDole: Hendrick offers two basic constructions for our products: resistance welded and a mechanically interlocked screen we refer to as profile bar. Hendrick will work with the customer to provide the best construction method with the best performance for the desired end product. hydroleadermagazine.com

PHOTO COURTESY OF HENDRICK SCREEN COMPANY.

Cody Veach: I started out in fabrication, specifically as a fabricator in the shipbuilding industry. I then moved into the aerospace field, where I was fabricating, machining, and designing heat exchangers. When I came to Hendrick, I spent several years in fabrication and then moved into a sales position in 2014, focusing on the water intake and fish diversion segment.

Architectural is supported by both manufacturing divisions and provides products to the architectural market.

The company has approximately 200 employees serving over 25 markets, including the architectural, petrochemical, fish diversion, water intake, sound and enclosures, pulp and paper, mining, agriculture, industrial, filtration, original equipment manufacturer, and distribution markets.

Hendrick emphasizes customer service for clients large and small from all over the world. Our motto is, “If you can get it on paper, we can probably do it.” We provide a range of value-added services, including engineering, so that we can be a solutions provider to our customers.

ADVERTISEMENT Cody Veach: When it comes to fish diversion and water intake, there are two types of screens: cylindrical screens and flat panels. We supply a significant amount of each to the marketplace. Additionally, we manufacture a patented halfintake screen, which is like a full circular screen cut in half and is intended for shallow water applications.

Choosing which screen to use really depends on the application. For fish diversion, we may suggest a flat panel for installation in a structure at a dam. Flat panels often have manifolds behind them to facilitate an airburst system used to clean the screens. It’s environmentally friendly and meets practically any criteria. Our screens are 316(b) compliant, which is required by many hydro plants.

Hendrick’s screens are always built to order to meet the needs of the end user.

Hydro Leader: Are your systems primarily for hydro facilities and municipal systems?

In some cases, customers have used multiple flat panels side by side or stacked on top of each other to cover more area.

When an airburst system is used with a flat panel, the screen needs to be installed at a tilt so that air travels through the face of the screen and can remove the debris. If the screen is installed in a completely vertical position, the airburst will not be effective. Some of Hendrick’s flat panels are used in conjunction with mechanical raking systems.

In these situations, our engineering group will review each requirement so that we can recommend the best solution.

With large flat panels, we can supply an airburst system to clean the screens section by section, with each section of the manifold on a separate valve.

Hydro Leader: What material are your screens made of?

Robert McDole: They are appropriate for any application: hydro, municipal, or irrigation—anything that’s got water touching it.

Robert McDole: We build our screens with a variety of alloys, but primarily use stainless steel, including 304L and 316L. We also supply screens and accessories using copper nickel, 2205, carbon steel, and aluminum, depending on the application.

Hydro Leader: Where on a hydro facility would these screens be placed?

Hydro Leader: Why would a customer prefer a material like copper nickel over aluminum or stainless steel?

Cody Veach: Our intake screens are installed at the entry point where water is withdrawn from the water source.

Installation locations can vary based on the water source and its environment. For example, if it’s in a reservoir, there may be intake screens at different levels to accommodate water depth variances. If there’s a lot of floating debris, the screens may be lower in the water column, where the water is cleaner, so there’s less debris to deal with. It also depends on how much the water level fluctuates. We install in a variety of water sources, such as rivers, lakes, and oceans; each have their own distinct installation requirements due to the environmental conditions.

Cody Veach: Copper-nickel screens are primarily used in locations where there will be biofouling—the growth of mussels, algae, moss, or anything else that would physically grow on the screen and hinder its performance. We use two different copper-nickel alloys: 90/10, which has a higher copper content and is typically used in freshwater, and 70/30, which has a higher nickel content and is typically used in salt water.

Initially, Hendrick provided a coating on the screen to respond to biofouling issues. Now we provide a coppernickel construction that extends the life of the product, ultimately reducing the total cost. We found that the coating deteriorated over time, which significantly decreased the performance of the screen. Copper-nickel wire, supports, and U-clips provide long-lasting protection from biofouling.

Zebra mussels in particular do not like copper.

Hydro Leader: Once the product is engineered, do your customers install it themselves, or do you go out to install it?

Robert McDole: We provide installation suggestions, but currently, Hendrick does not provide installation services.

Our customers manage the installation. However, as a service to our customers, we offer onsite inspections once installation is complete.

Hydro Leader: What’s the largest screen you’ve ever manufactured?

Cody Veach: We have manufactured cylindrical screens of up to 8 feet in diameter and 30 feet in length. Our larger intake screens may include support legs or stands for reinforcement and stability. We’ve built flat screens as large as 12 by 20 feet. hydroleadermagazine.com

Hydro Leader: How long does a screen last until it needs to be replaced?

Robert McDole: We’ve never had to replace a profile bar screen due to failure. A lot of companies have used resistance-welded technology for flat panels, which sometimes fail due to water resonance, or light vibration.

Hendrick provides a profile bar construction, which is a mechanically interlocking screen. Profile bar is a stronger alternative to resistance-welded technology for flat panels.

The costs are basically the same, but it is heavier and lasts longer, especially where flow rates are higher.

July/August 2021| HYDRO LEADER

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ADVERTISEMENT Profile bar is a three-piece interlocking construction consisting of a rivet rod, profile wire, and a U-clip. The interlocking design minimizes the need for welding directly on the wire. Also, the unique construction provides additional support and makes the screen stronger than a resistance-welded screen.

Hydro Leader: Are the screens adjustable?

Cody Veach: I wouldn’t say they are adjustable, but having multiple intake levels allows for flexibility. We design for the maximum flow rate required, and the screens perform just fine at any flow rate lower than that. Fish screens are designed to have adequate surface area at the low water level. This allows the screen to use more surface area if the water levels rise, reducing the risk of blinding even more.

Robert McDole: Hendrick builds airburst systems to provide optimal cleaning of the screens. This has been a growth area for our company. It’s an integral part of the screening process, because when somebody buys screens for fish diversion or a water intake application, they generally want a system to clean the surface of the screen. We can provide a customized system to meet the requirements of any given application. These systems can range from a basic manual system with hand-operated valves to a fully automated system with all the accessories.

Hydro Leader: How does the airburst system work?

Cody Veach: The airburst system delivers a blast of air to the screen to remove any debris that has gotten trapped against it. To design the system, we look at the size of the screen, how far the screen is from the compressor system, the size of the air-delivery piping, and the size of the air receiver. We want to ensure that the customer gets the correct amount of air delivered to the screen. Essentially, the system involves a compressor system that charges an air-receiver tank. Typically, they’re set to about 150 pounds per square inch. Once the system charges, a valve releases a blast of air via the air pipe.

The air pushes water out of the pipe, providing the initial cleaning; when the air arrives, it blows the debris off and away from the screen; and then the sweep velocity of the water carries the debris downstream, away from the screen.

Cody Veach: It depends. If it’s just gravity-feeding to a wet well with direct connection to the pump and no risk of cavitation, then the water intake can continue, and the air won’t have any effect on it. If it is hooked directly to the pump and there is a risk of cavitation, then we always recommend the pump be shut down. It should only take a couple of minutes. A cleaning cycle usually only lasts about

30 | HYDRO LEADER | July/August 2021

Hydro Leader: How many times per day does the cleaning cycle need to be done?

Cody Veach: It’s project specific. We’ve seen it done anywhere from every 5 minutes to once a month. It can vary based on the time of year as well. During the spring, there may be a lot of high water, causing increased amounts of debris; in the fall, there may be leaves. We look at those questions when we design a system to make sure it can recharge quickly enough to get the cleaning frequency the customer needs.

Hydro Leader: Do you have any other product lines or services that would be of interest for the hydro market?

Robert McDole: Hendrick also provide guiderails, manifolds, baffle plates, blank panels, and bar racks, which are often required on these projects as well.

Hydro Leader: What are your other top issues today?

Robert McDole: The volatility of raw material pricing is certainly an issue when you’re trying to help a customer solve a problem within a budget. Foreign intrusion can be an issue—for example, China provides some of the raw materials that go to the stainless-steel mills around the country.

Hydro Leader: What is the company’s vision for the future?

Robert McDole: We’re a growing company with an emphasis on customer service. Our owners have invested a significant amount of money in both divisions. We want to be seen as the preferred supplier of stainless screens across the world, due to the high level of our quality and service. What has allowed Hendrick to grow over the last 25 years is our ability to service our customers. If there’s a problem, we provide the client with a long-term solution at a reasonable price. H

Robert McDole is the vice president and general manager of Hendrick Screen Company. He can be contacted at bmcdole@hendrickcorp.com or (270) 685‑6914.

Cody Veach is the product manager for the water intake and fish diversion markets at Hendrick Screen Company. He can be contacted at cveach@hendrickcorp.com or (270) 685‑6934.

hydroleadermagazine.com

PHOTOS COURTESY OF HENDRICK SCREEN COMPANY.

Hydro Leader: Does the flow need to be stopped during that process?

5–10 seconds, and then there’s just enough time for the air to escape and get away from the screen.

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Marine Energy HOST UTILITY:

Diane Lear of the National Hydropower Association: Previewing the Clean Currents Trade Show and Conference

T

he National Hydropower Association (NHA) is planning a brand-new industry event called Clean Currents for October 2021. After a year and a half of few if any in-person events, Clean Currents promises to be a homecoming for the hydro industry. All elements of the conference will be open to all participants, putting everyone on an equal footing and enabling conversations between people from every part of the industry. In this interview, the NHA’s vice president of operations and member services, Diane Lear, fills us in on the plans for the conference.

Hydro Leader: Please tell us about your background and how you came to be in your current position.

directors are excited about charting a new path for the organization. This brand-new industry event will be held in Atlanta during the week of October 18–22 of this year.

With everyone having been cooped up for a year and a half due to the pandemic, the timing of this event will make it a wonderful opportunity to finally come together again—a hydro homecoming, if you will. The concept of Clean Currents has been in the making for several years, and our board of directors gave us the green light in September 2019 to begin planning. We spent a lot of time talking to our members and listening to the industry so that we could create not just another conference, but a whole new experience.

Having Georgia Power Every dollar spent by Company serve as the host attendees, exhibitors, and utility for NHA’s first-ever sponsors will go right hydro tradeshow and technical back into the association, conference in the Southeast supporting the NHA’s is very important to us. We’re work on behalf of the entire excited to bring the industry to industry. Our exhibitors and the great city of Atlanta. Hydro sponsors are doubling their was one of our first generating return on investment, first resources when our company by being part of a valuewas founded, and our first packed event, and second renewable energy source, by investing in their own and it’s as strong today as it industry. It’s a win-win.

TM

TM

32 | HYDRO LEADER | July/August 2021

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PHOTO COURTESY OF THE NHA.

Diane Lear: I have been with NHA for 19 years.

Previous to that, I was the marketing administrator for Voith Hydro in York, Pennsylvania. I HERBIE JOHNSON worked for Voith, a large General Manager turbine manufacturer, for Southern Company 15 years. Before that, I worked for Tampella of Tampere, Finland, and James Leffel & Company has ever been. in Springfield, Ohio.

Nearly my entire working Hydro Leader: How many career has been in hydro, interviews and meetings HOST UTILITY: cleancurrents.org and I have developed have you done over the years the most wonderful to plan Clean Currents? relationships with people in this great industry. While working for Voith, I served on Diane Lear: The development of Clean Current began the board of directors of the NHA. I found my experience well over 2 years ago. It started with dozens of phone and working with the NHA board and staff to be rewarding and in-person discussions with our members all across the energizing, which made my decision easy when I was offered country. We spent a lot of time listening to the industry a job at the association in 2002. to find out what really matters to it. Our goal was to make sure that the NHA was in step with what our members Hydro Leader: Please tell our readers about the Clean and was responding to what they really wanted and needed.

Currents meeting.

The NHA is truly member driven. Everything we do is to support the industry. To properly advocate for the resource, Diane Lear: Clean Currents will offer the industry we have to know what our members’ pain points, challenges, something new and fresh. The NHA’s staff and board of and needs are. This is a continual process. Malcolm Woolf,

ADVERTISEMENT our new president and CEO, supports that concept, and we connect with our members on those topics on a regular basis.

Hydro Leader: What are some of the things that came out of those meetings and interviews? How will this trade show and conference be unique to the industry?

Diane Lear: The need for meaningful licensing reform—that was probably the biggest takeaway for us. The other was just having hydro valued for all its benefits, including its nonpower benefits, so that it gets fair treatment in wholesale electricity markets. We’ve incorporated what we learned from those interviews into our strategic plan and designated resources in these areas. We pivoted our Waterpower Week in Washington conference to focus on legislative and regulatory policy and electricity market design and reform and created Clean Currents as the new all-industry event to incorporate every facet of the industry, including technical innovations, modernization of the existing fleet, and new development.

Rather than putting out a call for abstracts for the content of the program, we conducted hundreds of phone calls with our members to ask them what they wanted. We took this as an opportunity to start from a clean slate so that we could make this conference something different and valuable. We’ve used that feedback to create the meeting’s program. We’re excited about what we’ve come up with.

Hydro Leader: Please tell us about the structure of and the registration for the meeting.

TM

3 Things You Need to Know About Clean Currents 2021:

1

Clean Currents 2021 and NHA are NOT affiliated with HYDROVISION International.

2

This is the only national waterpower event that will reinvest proceeds back into the industry.

3

Conference programming is industry-driven to be relevant and dynamic to help answer industry challenges.

Explore the Week-Long Clean Currents 2021 Experience and Register at cleancurrents.org!

hydroleadermagazine.com

HOST UTILITY:

Diane Lear: We’re also excited about that. We wanted to create a true community feel to the event and a level playing field. Registration includes access to everything: all the conference sessions, the exhibit floor, the lunches, and the evening networking receptions. Everyone is invited and encouraged to participate fully in every part of the event.

Hydro Leader: Is there anything different for vendors?

Diane Lear: Manufacturers and service providers are so important to an event like this, and the supply chain is essential for the health and strength of the industry. The power producers want the supply chain to be a part of the conference, and not just on the exhibit floor. So rather than having separate lunches and restricting conference sessions to delegates, everyone has access to everything. We wanted to create a community feel throughout the event.

We’ve named the space CC Central, as everything is on one floor—the conference session rooms flank the exhibit area, the waterpower intelligence theater, the lunch area, and the lounges. Everyone is together all day long.

Hydro Leader: What is your message to the hydro community about your upcoming meeting?

Diane Lear: This is truly a hydro homecoming for the industry, and I would encourage everyone to take part. It is really important to have everyone there. Your participation and investment in Clean Currents directly funds the work we do on behalf of the entire industry. No other U.S. hydro conference does that. Given that the NHA represents 85 percent of the hydropower industry, we need your support so that the NHA can achieve its strategic goal of holding a conference that supports the industry in every way.

We really are looking forward to having everyone there.

I want to add that our host utility, Georgia Power, owned

by Southern Company, is so excited about the industry coming together in Atlanta. Southern Company has been incredibly supportive of the Clean Currents concept. It will be discussing a $1 billion investment program to rehabilitate and modernize its existing hydro assets and is anxious to see the entire industry there. It wants to talk to the supply chain. Several power producers also want to announce their investment plans at Clean Currents and are inviting suppliers to come and talk to them so that they know exactly what’s coming down the pipe. As I said, this truly is a different kind of event. H Diane Lear is the vice president of operations and member services at the National Hydropower Association. She can be contacted at diane@hydro.org.

July/August 2021| HYDRO LEADER

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JOB LISTINGS

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Does your organization have a job listing you would like to advertise in our pages? Hydro Leader provides this service to irrigation districts, water agencies, and hydropower facilities free of charge. For more information, please email Kris Polly at kris.polly@waterstrategies.com.

A&W MAINTENANCE LABORER COATING TECHNICIAN Location: Atlanta, Georgia Deadline: Open until filled RESPONSIBILITIES: +S urface preparation of the area in which epoxy will be applied. +S andblast to remove debris from metal. +O perate electric and hand tools. +O perate a high-PSI pressure washer and spray gun. +K eep tools, equipment, and work area clean.

REQUIREMENTS: +M ust be willing to travel in and out of state when needed. +M ust be willing to complete a field training in Massachusetts. +M ust be able to work overtime. +M ust be able to complete OSHA 10 and other safety training provided by A&W. For more information: Contact Cherry L. Martinez, senior recruiter, at (407) 287‑8790 or cmartinez@garney.com.

A&W MAINTENANCE LABORER COATING TECHNICIAN Location: Denver, Colorado Deadline: Open until filled RESPONSIBILITIES: +S urface preparation of the area in which epoxy will be applied. +S andblast to remove debris from metal. +O perate electric and hand tools. +O perate a high-PSI pressure washer and spray gun. +K eep tools, equipment, and work area clean.

REQUIREMENTS: +M ust be willing to travel in and out of state when needed. +M ust be willing to complete a field training in Massachusetts. +M ust be willing to learn and perform work according to the company’s procedure. +M ust be able to complete OSHA 10 and other safety training provided by A&W. +M ust be able to work overtime.

For more information: Contact Ariana Behler, craft recruiter, at (407) 287‑8808 or abehler@garney.com.

A&W MAINTENANCE PROJECT ENGINEER Location: Denver, Colorado Deadline: Open until filled

38 | HYDRO LEADER | July/August 2021

RESPONSIBILITIES: + Negotiate and purchase materials. + Create submittals, RFIs, and change orders. + Coordinate projects from start to finish (Assist with estimating, project setup & closeout, support field operations, maintain detailed job costs). + Assist in scheduling projects and crews.

REQUIREMENTS: + Degree in civil engineering, construction management, or other related field. + 0‑3 years’ experience. + Located in or willing to relocate to the Denver area. + Must be willing to travel 1–4 weeks at a time to support projects.

For more information: Contact Josh Snow at jsnow@garney.com.

.

RENEWABLE ENERGY ANALYST Location: Atlanta, Georgia Deadline: Open until filled Salary: $70,000–$95,000 RESPONSIBILITIES: +E xecute analytical, strategic, and financial assessments for business case development. +G ather customer/market information and offer recommendations to answer key business questions. +Q uantify risk and rewards to prioritize commercial activity and drive sales. +T ranslate business problems into advanced analytics and research projects. +P roactively manage customer and partner deliverables to ensure excellence and consistency. +O wn detailed financial modeling and market research for economic determinations such as cost of energy, breakeven, and project IR. +A nalyze and evaluate data, creating innovative advanced analytics and data visualizations. +C onduct periodic customer engagements to communicate value proposition, product fit, and financial performance.

REQUIREMENTS: +B BA/BA/BS in business, finance, accounting, or engineering. + I nvolvement in developing creative research and analysis program. + I ntermediate proficiency with Excel and PowerPoint for financial modeling and presentations. +A bility to travel up 25%.

For more information: Visit emrgy.com/careers/.

To apply: Send cover letter and resume to hr@emergy.com. hydroleadermagazine.com

JOB LISTINGS

SALES ENGINEER Location: Atlanta, Georgia Deadline: Open until filled RESPONSIBILITIES: +R eview customer water resource data to determine the most valuable project scope (turbine and array sizing). +C reate and manage sales tools for developing system solutions and value optimization. +C reate customer proposals and presentations demonstrating the benefits, value and financial payback. +U se financial modeling tools to calculate cost of energy, payback period and project IRR. +M eet with clients, as part of the sales team, for sales presentations and to develop customer offering. +A cquire new customers by winning them over from competitors and discovering newopportunities. +M anage own book of sales opportunities developing from origination to order.

REQUIREMENTS: +B S degree in engineering; preferred background in electrical, mechanical, or systems. +S trong customer service, analytical, and interpersonal skills. +B e curious and excited to learn about the many disciplines of science and engineering involved in hydropower and renewables. +N egotiation and problem-solving skills and data analysis/ modeling skills. +P roficiency with Excel, PowerPoint, and Word. +A bility to travel up 50%.

For more information: Visit emrgy.com/careers/.

To apply: Send cover letter and resume to hr@emergy.com.

PRODUCTION CONTROL PLANNER - ADVANCED TECHNOLOGY HYDRO POWER EQUIPMENT Location: Mansfield Center, Connecticut Deadline: Open until filled Salary: $40,000–$60,000 RESPONSIBILITIES: +S chedule usage of production materials to ensure optimal production levels. +Q uoting, purchasing, and purchase planning. +E valuation of suppliers. +M anage stockroom and inventory levels. + I dentify and resolve problems relating to inventory and production schedule. +T rack and issue all materials and ensure appropriate locations. +U sing automated tools, report material costs to bookkeeping and finance.

REQUIREMENTS: + Competency with standard office computer applications. +A bility to read technical drawings such as machine drawings, product specifications, and similar.

For more information: E-mail hr@nustreem.com or info@nustreem.com and visit nustreem.com.

hydroleadermagazine.com

EHS LEAN SPECIALIST Location: St. George, Utah Deadline: Open until filled RESPONSIBILITIES: + This new role will support the team by implementing and championing safety, lean, production, and environmental initiatives. + Train and implement solutions to improve productivity, safety activities, and quality. + Lead safety program to ensure employee safety and compliance with OSHA standards. + Provide direction for the production team in the event that unsafe acts or conditions are observed. + Optimize manufacturing processes to attain maximum safety, product quality, efficiency, and repeatability.

REQUIREMENTS: + Minimum 3 years’ business operations, plant engineering, or manufacturing experience, including 1–2 years of proven success with process improvement programs. + Experience delivering OSHA-compliant safety programs in a manufacturing environment. + Understanding of welding concepts and liquid industrial coating applications. + Certification in OSHA General Industry Outreach Trainer program.

For more information: Contact Nick Hidalgo, talent acquisition, at nhidalgo@nwpipe.com and visit www.nwpipe.com/careers.

QA MANAGER Location: Parkersburg, WV Deadline: Open until filled RESPONSIBILITIES: + Plans, coordinates, and directs quality control program for the Parkersburg manufacturing facility. + Develops and analyzes statistical data and product specifications to determine present standards and establish proposed quality and reliability expectancy of finished product. + Formulates and maintains quality control objectives coordinated with production procedures to maximize product compliance and minimize costs. + Directs workers engaged in inspection and testing activities to ensure continuous monitoring of production in progress as well as finished product.

REQUIREMENTS: + Ability to work with mathematical concepts such as probability and statistical inference and the fundamentals of plane geometry, solid geometry, and trigonometry. + Ability to apply concepts such as fractions, percentages, ratios, and proportions to practical situations. + Bachelor’s Degree (B.A.) from a 4‑year college or university and 5 years’ related experience or 10 years of equivalent combination of education and experience with a minimum of 5 years of managerial experience. + Requires an active AWS CWI certification.

For more information: Contact Nick Hidalgo, talent acquisition, at nhidalgo@nwpipe.com and visit www. nwpipe.com/careers.

July/August 2021| HYDRO LEADER

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Upcoming Events

July 6–8 Irrigation Australia, Conference and Exhibition, Sydney, Australia July 6–12 International Commission on Irrigation and Drainage, 24th Congress & 71st International Executive Council Meeting, Sydney, Australia July 12–13 North Dakota Water Resource Districts Association, Summer Meeting and North Dakota Water Education Foundation Executive Briefing, Dickinson, ND July 13–14 American Public Power Association, Legal and Regulatory Conference (virtual) July 13–15 North Dakota Water Users Association, Summer Meeting, Grand Forks, ND July 20–21 National Hydropower Association, Northeast Regional Meeting, Niagara, NY August 3–6 World’s Large Rivers Conference, Moscow, Russia, and virtual August 9–11 8th International Conference on Flood Management, Iowa City, IA August 10–12 National Water Resources Association, Western Water Tour of the Columbia Basin, Portland, OR August 15–17 Idaho Water Users Association, Water Law and Resource Issues Seminar, Sun Valley, ID August 24–26 Colorado Water Congress, Summer Conference, Steamboat Springs, CO September 13–16 National Rural Water Association, WaterPro Conference, Milwaukee, WI September 14 Husker Harvest Days, Grand Island, NE September 21–23 Hydrovision International, Spokane, WA September 23–24 International Hydropower Association, World Hydropower Congress, San José, Costa Rica September 26–28 Nebraska Association of Resources Districts, Natural Resources Districts Annual Conference, Kearney, NE September 28–29 CEATI International, 7th Annual Protection and Control Conference, Phoenix, AZ September TBD Agribusiness & Water Council of Arizona, Annual Meeting and Water Conference, TBD October 3–6 Edison Electric Institute, Transmission, Distribution, Metering, and Mutual Assistance, Phoenix, AZ October 5–7 U.S. Society on Dams, Fall Workshop Series, Denver, CO October 12–13 Nevada Water Resources Association, Minerals and Mine Water Management Symposium, Sparks, NV October 17–20 American Public Power Association, Legal and Regulatory Conference (virtual) October 20 National Hydropower Association, Clean Currents Trade Show and Conference, Atlanta, GA October 27 Northwest Hydroelectric Association and National Hydropower Association, Northwest Regional Workshop (virtual) October 29 Agribusiness & Water Council of Arizona, H2Open Golf Tournament, Casa Grande, AZ

To sign up to receive Hydro Leader in electronic form, please contact us at admin@waterstrategies.com. hydroleadermag

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