Benefits

This 'run of the river' green energy hydroelectric plant is designed to be:

1) Green

Hydropower is a clean renewable source of energy and unlike other types of power generation, the fuel is free.

2) Clean

Hydropower produces no air emissions of any kind

3) Silent

The turbines rotate at a relatively slow speed - slower than automobile engine would be if the automobile engine was idling. You'd be hard pressed to notice that these machines were operating if you were standing immediately outside of the powerhouse.

4) Vibration-Free

The force of the water and gravity turns a small one-piece turbine, which produces electricity. This quiet and vibration-free turbine will be built underground, making it invisible from the surface.

5) Smokeless

Nothing is burned in the generation of hydroelectricity.

6) Invisible

The proposed location for the facility is underground. It is not going to be an above grade structure.

7) Educational

The reason Minneapolis sprouted up here is because there was power at that location and the wheat growers of the Dakotas and the Great Plains all sent their wheat to be ground into flour. Since the end of the last Ice Age, the Falls had been slowly retreating up the river's canyon. Over centuries, the falling water undermined the limestone ledge that creates the falls. If left to nature, this unrelenting erosion would eventually destroy the falls and its ability to provide the power needed for milling machinery.

8) Historic

This is a very historic location; it's the birth of our city. The city was born because of renewable energy at St. Anthony Falls. The first production of hydroelectricity in all of North America was here in 1882.

9) A Tourist Attraction

The only waterfall on the entire length of the Mississippi River, the falls generated power for Minnesota's first major industry-lumber milling.