A multi-year project designed to strengthen and modernize the infrastructure at Xcel Energy’s Cedar Falls Hydro plant in Menomonie, Wis. has begun. The spillway modernization project is part of the company’s investment in a cleaner electric system, as it continues its drive toward 100% carbon-free electricity by 2050.
Crews have begun to mobilize for the first phase of the $50 million project that was approved by the Public Service Commission of Wisconsin last year. The overall project consists of replacing the existing overflow spillway and small gates with six large gates and also a downstream stilling basin which helps reduce the risk of eroding the riverbed at the dam. The spillway will be constructed in phases using upstream and downstream cofferdams.
Construction is expected to take place over the next three years and the 1,800-acre Tainter Lake, a popular recreational location, will remain at its normal water level throughout the entire project.
