By CRAIG FREILICH

POTSDAM – Village officials are considering contracting with a company that could increase revenue electricity produced at  Potsdam’s first downtown hydropower facility.

Meanwhile, Mayor Steven Yurgartis says the village has been informed by National Grid that “they got all the necessary paperwork” for Clarkson University and the village to distribute electricity produced at the new hydroelectric plant on the west bank of the Raquette River.

The Board of Trustees is meeting at 10 a.m. Friday to “explore the possibility of partnering with Gravity Renewables in a way that might increase our revenues from the east dam,” said Yurgartis.

The board is to consider authorizing the mayor to sign an agreement with Gravity Renewables, an “investor-backed owner, operator, and developer of small hydroelectric power plants in the United States,” the company’s web site says.

Under a proposed net metering agreement, “they would become operators of the east dam, and the village could potentially buy from them at a very favorable rate,” Yurgartis said. It would involve a somewhat complicated arrangement of accounting for power produced and value to the village that would, in the end, “save us money on our electric bill,” Yurgartis said.

Whether Gravity Renewables would be responsible for things like maintenance of the east dam facilities under any agreement with the village is among the things to be discussed at the meeting and in continuing talks, if they go ahead.

The Clarkson net metering agreement for power from the new west turbines is due to take effect June 1. The new hydroelectric plant is fully functional after years of setbacks.

“Clarkson will be receiving credit for the power the west dam produces and will share the monetary value of that credit with the village,” which can be applied to the village’s National Grid bill.

Meanwhile, the older west dam generation equipment is undergoing overhauls, and not without problems.

The gearbox on Unit 1 has been rebuilt and reinstalled, “but it’s not generating oil pressure” the way it should, Yurgartis said.

“We suspect the oil pump plumbing,” specifically whether a “left-handed or right-handed pump” is in place. The difference is whether the pump increases or decreases oil pressure under normal operation.

Yurgartis said that to determine what is happening will require erecting scaffolding and getting under the turbine assembly to pull the oil pan. He said that will not require lifting the assembly out of its mount.

The east dam’s Unit 2 is still awaiting return of its overhauled gearbox for reinstallation.