Via Community News Service, a University of Vermont journalism internship, for the Stowe Reporter
Stowe Electric Department plans to begin construction this June on the historic Smith’s Falls dam that suffered tropical storm damage back in 2011.
Located on the Little River near the utility’s headquarters, the dam will provide 150 kilowatts of power to the utility’s ratepayers and also contribute to flood resiliency in the area.
Earlier this month, regulators approved a $3.7 million contract to Middlesex-based Kingsbury Companies to restore the dam. All in, the project will cost $5.6 million.
Construction will start June 1 pending reviews by the Vermont Agency of Natural Resources and Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. The work is set to be completed by September 2027.
The project is not expected to increase electric rates in the short-term, according to Michael Lazorchak, the manager of regulatory affairs at Stowe Electric.
The project is just one piece of a larger effort to revitalize the Moscow Mills parcel, where the dam is located. Taking on the dam project unlocked funding for a number of other projects that aid the local community, including adding solar panels to the Stowe Electric campus, upgrading a substation and installing new transmission lines.
Smith’s Falls is “going from a dam that doesn’t have any way of monitoring water levels, to a dam with a gate that can respond to water levels,” said Charlie Ansley, a U.S. Department of Energy fellow working with the utility. “This will allow for better moderation.”
Smith’s Falls Dam was built back in 1822, had electric generation turbines installed in the 1850s, and was modernized with a sluiceway and turbine bay in the 1980s. The dam has been offline since Tropical Storm Irene severely damaged the turbines in 2011. Stowe Electric, which serves about 5,000 customers, purchased the land including the dam in 2016.
Expected to produce just 150 kilowatt hours of power, the Smith’s Falls is on the smaller side. Of Vermont’s roughly 80 hydro facilities, hydroelectric dam projects range from 25 kilowatts to 40 megawatts, Lazorchak said.
A grant for a study from Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) back in 2022 got the ball rolling on the renovation project. The main source of funding, however, comes from a Powering Affordable Clean Energy program loan, created by the Inflation Reduction Act under President Joe Biden in 2022.
The project is also funded with other federal grants and tax credits, as well as money from local trusts and non-profits.
“The whole project was to increase the education and public awareness and interaction with public power,” said Wendy Crosier, a former DOE fellow who worked with the utility during the project’s application process.
But funding delays would plague the project for the next few years. Under Biden, the PACE program funded projects that demonstrated broad community impact, particularly for rural communities like Stowe. There was also a focus on reducing climate pollution.
When President Donald Trump took office in January 2025, however, there was a government-wide pause in distributing congressionally appropriated funds. The money was eventually released in March 2025 with a new requirement to focus on “expanding American energy production.”
Though Stowe was not seriously impacted by the pause, it did add another layer of confusion atop the planning process.
Additionally, layoffs at agencies like FEMA increased the workload for employees and slowed getting funding out the door, Lazorchak said. Changing remote work patterns and early retirement pressure from the Trump administration made communication channels challenging as well, Lazorchak said.
“We might have a new hire out of California, even though we’re in the Northeast,” he said. “So then you’re dealing with time zone changes and all those sorts of things.”
Now with the funding in order, work can begin.
The project will entail replacing the crest gates with a permanent inflatable bladder to expand and contract based on water level. Dam anchors will be drilled into the ground to secure the structure; accumulated sediment to rehabilitate the dam will be removed; and a new flushing pipe, or “waste gate,” will be installed to prevent further sediment buildup. Trash racks will be installed to capture debris from upstream, protecting the hydro facility.
But not everyone is happy with the reconstruction of the dam.
During a technical environmental review process, residents and conservation groups argued that the project’s renewable energy benefits wouldn’t outweigh the negative impacts it would have on the habitat and water quality.
Karina Dailey, with the nonprofit Vermont Natural Resources Council, said that dam construction impacts water temperatures, reduces dissolved oxygen, affects the natural stream process and disrupts the equilibrium of the stream.
“This is not a decision that VNRC supports, and I do think it’s going to exacerbate water quality issues in that reach of the river,” Dailey told the Community News Service.
Even with funding secured and construction in the near future, challenges may continue for the utility. As spring approaches, snow melt may cause Little River to rise significantly, complicating construction.
Among these challenges, the utility projects to get the dam to be interconnected by next fall.