Bowersock Mills & Power
Company
546 Massachusetts Street
Lawrence, Kansas 66044
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1
Plant Manager, Rich Foreman, with the switchboard - each column regulates
the output from one turbine
The Bowersock Mills & Power Company in Lawrence,
Kansas has been certified as a "low-impact" hydropower facility by
the Low Impact Hydropower Institute. This means that in comparison to other
hydroelectric power plants, Bowersock's environmental impact is limited.
Only a small number of hydroelectric plants receive this designation.
Usually the low impact designation requires a fish ladder
which could have cost more than a million dollars, but the Bowersock Dam
is actually protecting the Kansas River by providing a barrier to an invasive
species of Asian carp.
Bowersock dam's impact is fairly low profile and the pool
formed behind the dam goes only about a mile and a half up the Kansas River.
The same pool provides the water supply for the city of Lawrence. The new
turbines added in 2013 required that the stack be raised from 21 to 22.5
feet and the pool increased another 100 or so yards up the Kansas River.
Solid state power controllers above the switch board regulate the voltage
and frequency
Bowersock Dam and construction of the new north building in 2011
The synchroscope measures and displays the frequency difference and
phase angle between Bowersock's output and the
power grid. It only allows them to connect when the difference is zero
Bowersock power plant flume - note the floating logs which divert debris
to an outlet
Bowersock Mills & Power Company generator / entry floor plan
The wall of the flume shows different time periods - the stone wall
with two windows at right date from the 1874 Douglas County Mills,
the white structures in the background were silos for the flour mill
and were incorporated into the foundation of the Lawrence City Hall at
the back
Repairs being made to the wicket gate for turbine #7
Massachusetts Street Bridge and Bowersock Dam with the north shore
plant expansion on the far side of the Kansas (Kaw) River
Fisherman in the Kansas River below the Bowersock Dam
Initial phase of construction of the $25 million Bowersock Mills &
Power Company north expansion, the new facility is expected to
be completed in the spring of 2013
The 2012 hydroelectric expansion
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