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NAI Spring Assists Current Hydro with Ohio River Renewable Power Projects. Bryce Custer, SIOR, CCIM Will Be Working with Current Hydro on Site Acquisitions

NEW CUMBERLAND, WEST VIRGINIA, USA, April 22, 2022 /EINPresswire.com/ -- As we celebrate Earth Day 2022, we are pleased to be working with Current Hydro on a renewable energy solution along the Ohio River in West Virginia.

The old saying “it’s water over the dam,” can be used to describe much of America’s hydropower industry.

The idiom’s formal definition is “a past event now considered resolved, settled, or forgotten about.” Most of this nation’s hydropower certainly has been forgotten about. Hydroelectric dams are just there, some since the late 1800s, generating power which today totals roughly 7% of the nation’s generated power.

A six-year-old company is looking to jumpstart hydropower usage in the U.S. Operating under the mantra “20th century technologies combined with 21st century sensibilities,” Current Hydro sees the cleanest of the clean energy technologies to replace coal and other baseload power sources for the nation’s electrical grid.

“I got involved with hydropower, the first renewable energy source, because of its positive impact on the climate crisis,” said Joel Herm, a self-proclaimed serial entrepreneur who left a software job on Wall Street to co-found Current Hydro.

In 2016, Current Hydro initially was funded with a $1 million grant from the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority to solve the riddle of making so-called microhydro deployments a significant power-generating asset in New York State.

Current Hydro is now in the process of building $1 billion of micro (hydroelectric power equipment that typically produces from five kilowatts to 100 kW of electricity), small (power capacity below 30 megawatts), and large hydro facilities.

Two of five larger projects are slated for the Ohio River, including Pike Island, north of Wheeling, WV, and New Cumberland, farther south on the Ohio, near New Cumberland, Ohio.

Each will generate 20 MW at capacity, cost roughly $100 million, and take two years to build.

"At NAI Spring we have been working with the Natural Gas and Coal Energy companies throughout Ohio and West Virginia. We welcome the opportunity to work with Current Hydro on their West Virginia renewable energy projects." said Bryce Custer, SIOR, CCIM with NAI Spring Commerical Realty.

A recent public meeting for the two projects began with site visits, followed by a virtual/onsite assembly in Wheeling, WV. The audience included representatives from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the Ohio and West Virginia Departments of Natural Resources, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

While there were no “concerned citizens” in attendance, Bream said the meeting did result in comments and suggestions Current Hydro can act upon to bring Pike Island and New Cumberland become reality.

“We’ll be counting fish types at both sites and put in eel traps to see if eels are living in the Ohio River,” Herm said. “We’re trying to add scientific data to our efforts.”

Unlike the typical, old-time hydro developer, who looked to build the largest capacity hydropower facility, and not giving much thought to how the project would impact fauna (i.e., fish) above and below the site, Current Hydro takes a different tact.

“We generate an uncommon dialog, between hydropower people, river folks like fishermen and commercial river traffic, and environmentalists,” Herm said. “Actually, it was the river folks who saw hydro as the cleanest of the renewables. The environmentalists did not like hydro because of its impact on the fishing population.”

Herm added during the site visits, Current Hydro representatives made sure to talk with fishermen and fisherwomen near the project sites, to get a feel for that group thinks about installing hydro equipment near their “fishing hole.”

“When they heard about our projects and what we were doing to ensure fish will not be harmed, they were delighted,” he said.

“We want to hear from anyone who has an opinion on the projects,” Herm said. “We will have open meetings monthly for as long as needed.”
Since the dams built on the U.S. river system isn’t going away, co-existence between hydro developers, commercial river users and environmentalists is crucial.

“But our real target in building our hydro facilities is so we (man) don’t melt the planet,” according to Herm. “We’re using the ‘unloved renewable,’ but actually when the sun goes down and solar power is unavailable, and the wind stops, you still have hydro.”

For additional information and updates on petrochemical, energy, plastics and polymers throughout the Ohio and West Virginia area, contact Bryce Custer at (330) 418-9287 or bryce@OhioRiverCorridor.com.

Bryce Custer, SIOR, CCIM has been working with clients throughout the Ohio River Corridor with sales/leasing of properties and terminal operations. Custer has been actively involved with site selection for natural gas power plants and manufacturing facilities throughout Ohio and West Virginia. Custer is a licensed commercial real estate broker with NAI Spring in Ohio and West Virginia and our affiliation with NAI Global provides us the opportunities to service clients worldwide.

Bryce A Custer
NAI Spring / Ohio River Corridor, LLC
+1 330-418-2987

Bryce A Custer
Ohio River Corridor, LLC
+1 3304189287
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