08-04-2025
ENVIRONMENTALLY BENEFICIAL: City Council hears proposal for hydropower on Illinois River
A proposal for a hydropower plant on the Illinois River outlines how a new way of generating energy can benefit the environment, and cause less harm to the river.
During Monday night's Tahlequah City Council meeting, Ward 2 City Councilor Keith Baker introduced, via Zoom, Dr. Reza Saeed Kandezy, a professor of electronics and computer engineering at the University of Oklahoma.
The presentation shared the new technology, and the costs and benefits of building a plant on the river. The vision presented by Kandezy is Tahlequah Hydropower – clustered vortex generators and an integrated renewable model.
"It not only brings the high-tech technology into our community, and green sustainable energy sources, but also creates a very sustainable and beneficial, eco-friendly environment for our Illinois River," Kandezy said.
The project prioritizes a low-impact, modular approach that circumvents the technical, environmental, and political limitations of conventional infrastructure, stated one of Kandezy's slides in his presentation.
Goals of the project include transforming the health of the river through eco-safe engineering, habitat regeneration, erosion mitigation, and integrated water-quality innovation, Kandezy said.
The project overview and core technologies include modular vortex turbines, microscale pumped storage, solar photovoltaic integration, and education.
"By putting these technologies and science into our project, we are basically creating a living laboratory that will create a strong initiative for research and learning opportunity for all K-12 students, universities and colleges," Kandezy said.
An investment of $1.1 million for the proposed pilot project includes: $195,000 for three vortex turbine units; $220,000 for the pumped hydro components; $330,000 for the photovoltaic array and inverters; $90,000 for site work and grid integration; and $120,000 for engineering, permitting and contingency costs, Kandezy said.
He said this investment could create an annual revenue of $110,000, and the break-even point is eight-10 years.
"We are creating a leap in hydropower within this vision," Kandezy said. "Our first goal was to not only keep our environment from the hazards of pollution, but actually use this project to help enhance the situation we have currently."
He said the project is totally eco-friendly; the turbines and generators are passive and would not interfere with the life-cycle or ecosystem within the river. The construction would create some disturbance to the river and surrounding area.
"We could actually create a filtering system for the river itself," Kandezy said. "That filtration not only helps our technology to have a longer life, but also helps enhance the environment of the river, because we are filtering out the pollution."
The reason for the presentation was to get feedback from all stakeholders, Kandezy said. The pilot project is needed because this is new technology, and there is a nee to control the financial risk.
Councilors discussed various means of paying for the project, such as grants and other capital investments. The research value is "phenomenal," Baker said. Kandezy said this is the only project of this type and the clustered vortex generators are not found anywhere else in the world.
"Not only do [we] have to think about that today, [we] have to think about tomorrow and the next 20 years," Baker said.
He said everyone needs to be more environmentally conscious, and at least try to stop the erosion along the river.
"There is a symbiosis of not only improving our environment, but by harnessing it for green sustainable energy," Baker said.
Baker wants to involve not just the city, but Tahlequah Public Works Authority and the Cherokee Nation, and other stakeholders in the community.
The timeline presented by Kandezy showed a feasibility study conducted within the first three quarters of 2025, and an energy yield and cost analysis and the development of a scale-up plan by 2027.
In other business, Daniel Murphy with Kimley-Horn, an engineering, planning and design consultancy, presented the completed Tahlequah Transportation Safety Action Plan. Titled "Vision Zero," the name reflects the goal of zero deaths due to traffic accidents. The plan was approved.
After a brief presentation by Planning and Development Director Paige Harjo, the agenda item to hire HSE Architects to design a parking garage on Spring Street, retaining wall on Downing Street, a pedestrian bridge over Downing Street, and sidewalks for downtown, was approved.
The majority of funding for the project is from an Economic Development Administration grant of just under $2 million, and the match from the city is a little over $400,000, said City Administrator Taylor Tannehill.
The money for the match are American Rescue Plan Act funds that had to be obligated in December. If this project was not approved, the city would have to negotiate with the government on using the funds for another similar parking project, Tannehill said.
"We have a limited time to use the funds, and I think HSE was the most qualified and eager to do the project for us," Tannehill said.
What's next
The next City Council meeting is May 5, 5:30 p.m., in Council Chambers in the City Administration Building.
