North America | Powering progress
In this interview with Tim Oakes, we delve into the rich history and extensive expertise of Kleinschmidt Associates, showcasing the company’s impactful projects and contributions
Can you provide some background on Kleinschmidt Associates? Kleinschmidt Associates is a leading engineering, regulatory, and environmental consulting firm that has specialized in hydropower for over 55 years. We balance technical expertise with practical experience to help our clients solve complex renewable energy, water, and environmental challenges. We began in 1966 as a small firm in Maine, and today, we’ve grown into a mid-sized, employee-owned company that operates as one company, with 12 offices and multiple virtual employees working closely with clients throughout the US and Canada .
What are the company’s core values, and how do you engage with the community? Our core values revolve around having an ownership attitude, not only in our ownership of Kleinschmidt, but for our clients, putting ourselves in their shoes and trying to find the best solutions for them and “doing the right thing”. We focus on developing our employees – their technical skills as well as leadership and communication, project management and other areas. These values shape everything we do, from our internal culture to how we serve our communities. Our staff are involved in initiatives in the communities where we live including STEM initiatives, working closely with junior high and high schools to inspire future generations to enter hydro engineering and related fields. We also support numerous industry organizations and initiatives as well, including our role as founding sponsors of the Hydropower Foundation’s Waterpower Club – Waterpower Community Partnership at colleges across the US.
What hydropower engineering services do you offer? Our hydropower engineering services include all aspects of hydro design –and we regularly perform conceptual through final design for new or expanded hydropower facilities. We are industry leaders in fish passage design, integrating our biological understanding of fishery science with our engineering skills to design all types of upstream and downstream passage facilities for numerous fish species. Kleinschmidt is also known for our comprehensive dam safety expertise, and we have a number of FERC approved dam safety inspectors. We also inspect and design gates, penstocks, and spillway structures, perform hydraulic modeling and other services to meet each client and project’s unique requirements. Our team’s diverse expertise in civil, structural, hydraulic, mechanical, electrical, and geotechnical disciplines allows us to create tailored solutions for both new and existing hydropower projects.
How are you involved in pumped storage hydropower? We have managed or had significant involvement in relicensing eight pumped storage projects and are currently managing two other pumped storage relicensing efforts. We’ve been actively involved in engineering and environmental feasibility studies for new or potential pumped storage projects and have developed preliminary designs and opinions of cost for a number of pumped storage projects. Our team has also contributed to repairing and upgrading more than 20 pumped storage projects.
Above and right: Lower Baker Dam upstream and downstream fish passage facilities, Oregon
20 | June 2024 |
www.waterpowermagazine.com
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