By CRAIG FREILICH

POTSDAM -- The village could soon contract with a Colorado firm to operate its east dam hydroelectric plant, and on Friday trustees took action they hope will make the most of the agreement.

And in a related matter, Mayor Steven Yurgartis says he has been notified by National Grid that “they got all the necessary paperwork” for Clarkson University and the village to distribute electricity produced in the new hydroelectric plant at the west dam on the Raquette River.

In a Friday special session, the board voted 4 to 1, with Trustee Eleanor Hopke opposed, to give the mayor the option to pursue an operating agreement for the east dam with Gravity Renewables, which manages small hydroelectric power facilities around the country.

“We agreed to keep talking, keep working on it,” said Mayor Yurgartis, and explained that this step was taken Friday because of a rule change by the Public Service Commission that was to go into effect June 1.

The old rule allows credit for power produced at the east plant “based on how much we would pay to get that power in,” not simply on how much power is produced, as the new rule would do.

Yurgartis said the value to the village would be much greater under the old rule, so the vote was an attempt to get the village’s preferred framework grandfathered into any agreement.

“We want to be able to craft our agreement under the current rule rather than the new rule. This is a placeholder, but the interpretation of it is up to the PSC,” Yurgartis said.

The matter is complicated by technical considerations such as whether or not the village can separate the “intertwined” wiring of the east dam and the nearby water treatment plant, and what type of metering will be used for each unit, Yugartis said.

“If the village succeeds in separating the water plant and the hydro, and if they could go on different meters, it could benefit the village, but the new rule would make the meter type a moot point,” he said.

“The next step is to continue to discuss with Gravity Renewables a deal we can strike that is beneficial to both,” he said.

The mayor said such a deal might result in a contract with the firm to operate the east dam, and the village could get its power from them at a very favorable rate. 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. “Then we would bring the deal to the PSC and get their interpretation of whether we qualify under the old rule or the new rule.

“I would put the odds of a successful agreement at less than 50-50 – a deal that is good for both of us and is approved by the PSC,” Yurgartis said. “There’s still lots of uncertainty.”

But the vote Friday is way to try to “beat the new rule and demonstrate to the PSC that we are negotiating in good faith with Gravity Renewables and any judgment should be interpreted under the monetized rule,” the rule that is being changed.

Gravity Renewables is an “investor-backed owner, operator, and developer of small hydroelectric power plants in the United States,” the company’s web site says.

Meanwhile, Yurgartis said that the village can proceed with their net metering agreement with Clarkson for power from the new turbines in the west dam, “which is fully functional” after years of setbacks, Yurgartis said.

The Clarkson agreement was due to take effect June 1.

“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 east 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 determining 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.