Twinfield Union School Hydroelectric Project - Details

Nasmith Brook, on Twinfield school property, provides 150 feet of head, making it a great hydro site.  We are working on building a damless-diversion hydro facility that would provide our school with clean, renewable energy. (That's Brendan and Ian with a model of the project in the photo to the right.)

We would divert some water out of the river, run it through a penstock, powerhouse, and turbine before returning it to the river at a lower point.  Fish passage and sediment transport won’t be blocked. In this small watershed (13.4 sq. mi.), we can produce a lot of power with less water because of the large amount of head.

Our project is designed to protect the fish and the swimming hole. We have worked with experts to conducted fish and flow studies, ensuring that we will protect the aquatic life inhabiting Nasmith Brook. We will continue to monitor the project after installation so we can make any modifications needed. After the hydro is installed the river will still have the range of flow variability that the aquatic life need during all life stages. Our system is engineered so that the brook gets “first priority” water, meaning there will always be water in the brook (unless there is a drought). There is no possible way that the project will dry up the river because when flows get low our proposed design will stop operating.

We are committed to installing an environmentally sound hydro system. We look forward to working with resource agencies to protect the aquatic life and to reduce our school’s energy bill ($60,000/yr). By installing our hydro we would combat global warming by displacing the use of 230-385 tons of carbon per year. Since our school is already heated with biomass, we would be one of the first schools in the nation to have all renewable power.