KNOXVILLE, Iowa — A South Dakota-based organization plans to build a new hydroelectricity plant at Red Rock Reservoir that is expected to provide enough power for 18,000 homes.
Officials at Sioux Falls-based Missouri River Energy Services said construction is scheduled to begin early next year on the $260 million project. The reservoir is about four miles north of Knoxville in south-central Iowa.
The Des Moines Register reported Tuesday (http://dmreg.co/11XFwFy ) that the organization will develop the plant by installing turbines at the current dam on the Des Moines River. Missouri River Energy Services is a consortium, based in Sioux Falls, S.D., that includes 61 municipal utilities from Iowa, Minnesota, South Dakota and North Dakota.
The new plant is expected to be ready for operation in late 2016.
"We have already pulled the trigger on the project. We have ordered the turbine generators," said Tom Heller, the organization's chief executive officer. "There are going to be a lot of construction jobs when this plant is built."
Once built, the plant will be largely automated and will need only about two employees to operate, Heller said.
The plant will be the second-largest hydroelectric plant in Iowa, behind one on the Mississippi River at Keokuk.
Heller said Missouri River Energy Services also is interested in building a hydroelectric plant at Saylorville Reservoir, just north of Des Moines, and along the Mississippi River in Dubuque and Davenport, but those proposals are in early stages of development.
Boston-based FFP Qualified Hydro 14 LLC also has expressed interest in a hydro project at Saylorville.
Hydroelectric plants make sense because of the difficulty of building coal-fired or nuclear plants and long-term concerns about natural gas prices, Heller said.
Environmental groups haven't raised objections to the plans.
Mike Delaney, a legislative lobbyist for the Izaak Walton League, said his group likely won't oppose the project because the Red Rock dam already is in place.
