By CRAIG FREILICH

POTSDAM -- The village’s East Dam hydroelectric plant might get an infusion of $750,000 for its $1.8 million rehabilitation if a request for a grant to be submitted July 27 succeeds.

Representatives of the New York Power Authority and engineering firm Guth DeConzo in Albany were in Potsdam Wednesday to inspect the East Dam generators and finalize their report to the village. That report is expected to be in the village’s hands on July 24. It will be be part of the package that will be submitted to the state Office of Community Renewal for a $750,000 Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) though the 2017 New York State Consolidated Funding Application round.

Meanwhile the village received confirmation Wednesday of $250,000 from Assemblywoman Addie Jenne, D-Theresa, for the repairs after a commitment from her last October to seek the funds.

That makes $1 million toward the project. That leaves $800,000 to go.

“If we can’t get that through grants, we expect the Power Authority to help,” probably in the form of loans, Village Administrator Greg Thompson said.

“That’s the nice part,” Thompson said. “According to preliminary reports, if we do get a loan from them we will be able to make the annual payments and still have a positive cash flow beyond that” from power generation.

CDBG grant funding may be used in tandem with additional New York state grant funding and debt financing provided by NYPA through its Energy Efficiency Program. The substantial rehabilitation of the East Dam Hydro-Electric Generating Plant is estimated to cost $1.8 million. The village has entered into an agreement with the New York Power Authority to additionally provide engineering and project management services during construction.

“The Power Authority will basically act as the general contractor and bank,” Thompson said. They will decide on bid awards in consultation with the village, “and manage the project.”

After several decades sitting unused, the East Dam Hydro-Electric Generating Plant with two 400 kW generators was put back in service in the early 1980s as part of the village’s replacement of its water treatment plant. Electricity generated by the plant has historically been used to offset the cost of operating the village’s water and sewer plants, the Pine Street Arena and area lighting for village facilities such as the Civic Center.

In 2015, the plant was shut down after mechanical problems were detected in the turbines’ gearboxes.

One attempt to repair the gearboxes failed. Since then they have been sitting at a Philadelphia Gear plant in Delaware as the company waits for instructions. Recently Philadelphia Gear asked either for a contract to do the repairs or for the village to take them back, as they didn’t feel they could afford to store them. The village will arrange for return of the gearboxes since they did not think they could settle on financing, bids and contracts by the company’s deadline for storage charges.

“That doesn’t mean NYPA won’t send them back down to be fixed, but in the meantime they can’t afford to store them. It will be easier to just bring them back for now,” Thompson said.

He said it’s “a little early to set a timeline, but would like to start in November” on the repairs.

“I’d like to say we’ll be making power in a year,” he said, but he was making no guarantees yet.