PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — A century-old Philadelphia company is taking part in a federal program that would generate more electricity through hydropower.
Assistant U.S. Secretary of Energy Audrey Robertson Monday toured Kingsbury, Inc.’s Northeast Philadelphia plant where bearings, including those used at dams to generate power, are made.
She announced the second phase of a program called HyTN (Hydropower Testing Network) that would help Kingsbury test how its bearings hold up when hydropower generators are turned off and on, to back up solar and wind power.
“In this case, it’s focused on the new demands on these bearings that come from turning a hydropower facility on and off repeatedly,” Robertson said.
Kingsbury CEO Mike Brawley said his firm is working with Oak Ridge National Labs in Tennessee.
“It’s actually some novel testing that has not been done before. And it’s because of some of the changing nature of the way many of the units nationwide are being operated,” Brawley said.
The HyTN program is providing grants of “a few million dollars” each for 12 hydropower technology companies nationwide. Robertson said the goal is to help hydropower facilities operate at peak generation.
