SMALL HYDRO WORKSHOP Monday, February 24, 2025 9:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.
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Are you ready to maximize your hydro operations and secure funding for your next big project? This is your opportunity to gain actionable insights from industry leaders and discover exclusive funding opportunities tailored to small hydro owners, suppliers, and vendors.
Why This Workshop is a Must-Attend: - Expert Insights on Turbine Maintenance: Learn strategies to reduce downtime and improve efficiency from Voith’s Albin Atzmueller. - Funding to Fuel Your Growth: Access DOE programs, Section 247 incentives, and USACE low-interest loans to power your next project. - Keep Operations Safe and Compliant: HDR’s Sharon Roach shares best practices to enhance public safety around your facilities. - Network with Industry Leaders: Collaborate with peers and experts to spark new ideas and partnerships.
📅 Event Details Monday, February 24, 2025 Time: 9:30 AM – 12:30 PM Location: Hyatt Regency Downtown Seattle, WA
Don’t Miss Out—Register Now Spaces are limited, so secure your spot today!
Moderators: Fred Noland, Idaho Power and Jeanne Finger, City of Spokane Schedule
9:30- Welcome, networking, and idea generation
10:00- As the Turbine Turns – maintenance considerations for different turbines. Albin Atzmueller, Voith
10:30- External Infrastructure Maintenance – Project examples. Lewis Rounds, Ballard Marine
10:50- Public Safety Around Facilities- Sharon Roach, HDR Inc.
11:10-11:20- Break
11:20- DOE Funding Opportunities for Small Hydro- Colin Sasthav, Department of Energy
11:40- DOE Grid Deployment Office Funding Opportunities- Section 247 and Other Hydro Incentives- Jeff Leahey, SMI
12:00- Funding for Rehab and Upgrades- Low Interest Loans- Nate Campbell, US Army Corps of Engineers
12:20- Wrap up and Adjourn
Speaker Bios:
Colin Sasthav
Colin Sasthav is a Technology Manager for the Department of Energy Water Power Technologies Office. He earned his PhD in Energy Science and Engineering from the University of Tennessee Knoxville where he studied how to reduce costs and improve environmental performance for small hydropower. Now he manages a portfolio of hydropower research and development initiatives focusing on small hydropower development, advanced materials and manufacturing, and innovation testing with the goal of getting sustainable hydropower technologies in the water.
Albin Atzmueller
Albin Atzmueller holds a MS in Economics from University of Innsbruck, Austria and a BS in Economics from Linnaeus University, Sweden. He has been with Voith Hydro for over 7 years and works in North America as a Small Hydro Concept Specialist, offering services for conventional small hydro power plants, StreamDiver low-head turbines, and modernizations. Appointed as Product Owner of the StreamDiver within Voith Hydro, he specializes in developing state-of-the-art concepts using the StreamDiver technology. Previously, he worked globally as Area Sales Manager in the Division of Small Hydro VHGE, Austria with market responsibilities in the Caucasus region and SE Asia.
Jeff Leahey
Jeff Leahey, Vice President, has worked in Washington, D.C. for 25 years. He is an experienced government affairs professional with an extensive policy background in energy, the environment, and natural resources
Prior to joining SMI, Jeff served as the Executive Vice President for Governmental Affairs at the National Hydropower Association (NHA), representing the association before Congress, the Administration, and federal agencies on various matters, including climate and clean energy policy, renewable energy and energy storage tax and other incentives, research and development funding, and many others. Jeff has testified before Congress, drafted legislative policy, and developed comments on regulatory and administrative proposals. He has also developed and implemented successful lobbying campaigns, led complex policy negotiations, and overseen public affairs messaging initiatives.
Jeff holds a B.A. in Biology and Political Science from Washington University in St. Louis and a J.D. from Northeastern University School of Law. He also serves as a Board Member of NHA and as the current Board Chair of the National Energy Resources Organization (NERO).
Nate Campbell
Mr. Nate Campbell is the Senior Portfolio Manager for the U.S. Army Corps Water infrastructure Financing Program. Nathan has assisted with the development of the Corps Water Infrastructure Financing Program since 2022 and will lead post close loan management for water resources infrastructure projects across the US.
Nate began his Federal career with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Regulatory program in the St. Paul District and later joined the St. Paul District Civil Works program as a Project and Program Manager heading execution of numerous Corps authorities.
He holds a Bachelor of Science from University of Wisconsin Lacrosse and a Master of Science in Water Resources Science from the University of Minnesota.
Lewis Rounds
Lewis’ professional career started with designing waste treatment facilities for dairies and as Vice President of a startup silica mining and processing company. In 1998, Lewis began working for the State of Idaho as the Dam Safety Engineer (State Engineer) for the Idaho Department of Water Resources where he was directly responsible for the inspection and regulatory compliance of 168 dams and was involved in many others that required state and other agency collaboration with owners and regulators. During the next 8 years, while maintaining the Staff Engineers (Dam Safety Engineer) position, Lewis also held the positions of District Hydrographer for several water management districts, held an elected position as Water Master for WD 120, and worked closely with the USACOE on stream channel protection issues. In January 2006, Lewis began working at NextEra Energy/Florida Power and Light (FPL) as the Corporate Dam Safety Engineer. While working at FPL, Lewis also held the title of Technical Services Leader in charge of the civil engineering group for the company. As the Dam Safety Engineer, Lewis had responsibility for 29 hydro related dams in Maine, 3-large above ground water retention reservoirs in Florida, cooling canal systems in Florida, a reservoir in Spain, and co-owned ash ponds in Georgia. Other assignments for FPL included various types of work including storm event prediction, most types of water related structures and pumping systems, storm water controls, solar field construction and operation, wind power construction and maintenance, work at nuclear facilities, combined cycle power plants, and conventional boiler type power plants. Currently, Lewis is Director of Engineering for Ballard Marine Construction providing estimating support, constructability review, value engineering, QA/QC, engineer lead inspections, Early Contractor Involvement, as well as Design-Build and EPC contracts.
Sharon Roach
Sharon is a licensed civil engineer* specializing in dam safety regulations, operations, maintenance, and inspections. She has worked as a project engineer and regulator for the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) in the San Francisco Regional Office (SFRO) and worked her way up to the chief dam safety engineer over her career working for two dam-owning public utilities. Sharon writes and audits Owners Dam Safety Programs (ODSP); facilitates PFMA/SQRAs; performs FERC physical security assessments and writes plans; develops and facilitates Emergency Action Plan (EAP) exercises; develops and assesses public safety plans (PSP); collects, aggregates, and interprets instrumentation data for Dam Safety and Surveillance Monitoring Reports (DSSMR); and serves as a project manager on various-sized projects. She is a FERC approved Chief Dam Safety Engineer, PFMA/SQRA facilitator and ODSP Auditor.