The Cannelton Hydroelectric Project is an 88 MW run-of-the-river hydroelectric power plant providing new, renewable generation to Ohio, West Virginia, Virginia, Kentucky, and Michigan. The project’s location was on the Kentucky side of the existing U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE). The facility, located on the Ohio River near Hawesville, Kentucky, is owned by American Municipal Power, Inc. (AMP).

It is essentially a 10-story building, with nine stories underground. The site includes an intake approach channel, a reinforced concrete powerhouse, and a tailrace channel. The project diverts water from the USACE locks and dam through powerhouse bulb turbines to generate an average gross annual output of approximately 458 million kilowatt-hours (kWh).

Scope of Work

The general contractor for the project was Walsh Construction, which selected Motor City Electric Co. as the electrical contractor for design/assist, material procurement, installation, testing, and commissioning support. Motor City Electric Utilities Co. was also involved, completing a 138kv substation to integrate with the utility grid and all of the interconnecting overhead wiring.

Motor City Electric Co. performed the complete electrical installation for the powerhouse that contains three horizontal 29.3-MW bulb-type turbines and generating units with a total rated capacity of 88 MW at a gross head of 25 feet. Each rotor is about 25 ft. in diameter, more prominent than the propellers on the Titanic. Before the water reaches the plant’s rotor blades, it runs through tube channels that get narrower as the water gets closer to the rotors, increasing the water pressure and turning the rotors. Construction began in November 2010, and MCE completed the project by June 2016.