The Dam Collapse that Didn't Happen

Since there was no catastrophe, this story didn't make much news, or I didn't see much about it, in the news. From Madalyn Buursma at WLNS Lansing: Water levels at Cheboygan dam stabilized

This was a story that was all too similar to the Edenville Dam collapse on 19 May 2020.

A series of storms dumping a lot of rain upstream of the dam. The spillways not in the best shape. The powerhouse not able to pass water through the turbines. The water got withing a few inches (5?) of overtopping the dam. Emergency crews brought in pumps to aid in getting water out of the reservoir.

The power house, which could pass a lot of water through the turbine, had been closed since 2023 when a fire in a nearby factor had caused the powerhouse to be shutdown. In what has to be a product of "lessons learned" from Edenville and Sanford dams, an emergency effort was undertaken, to get the equipment tested, the generators reconnected to the electrical grid, and the powerhouse back on line.

The result: Crews restart hydroelectric turbine at Cheboygan Dam

The hydro dam at the Cheboygan Lock and Dam Complex is officially online and river water levels are dropping, according to Michigan State Police Emergency Management and Homeland Security Division.

The announcement comes after Department of Natural Resources officials worked with Consumers Energy, the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to restore a former hydro dam powerhouse. The turbine hadn’t operated since a 2023 fire.

Using the turbine to generate power allows the people managing the dam to increase water flow by 30%. Taking that amount of control away from the dam operators was never a good idea. And while low-head hydroelectric power is deemed to be to expensive today, clearly that installation is capable of generating power, which since the infrastructure is in place is clean energy. While you might not build it from scratch today, why not use it for the rest of its lifespan?

Cheboygan, Michigan is on the northern tip of the Lower Peninsula. It is on the shore of Lake Huron, at the mouth of the Cheboygan River. It is about 19 miles southeast of Mackinaw City, Michigan, or about a 285 mile drive north of Detroit. The dam is right in the middle of the city, about 1½ miles from Lake Huron.

With the extra effort, and some dry weather, the situation came back under control, with the water levels falling.