In about eight months or so, engineers hope to activate a 2.5-megawatt hydroelectric generating plant that’s been under construction below Seitz Park across from the Century Center since August 2019.

The plant, which is being built by the University of Notre Dame, will harness water from the St. Joseph River at the south end of Seitz Park and channel it as it drops about 13 feet into 10 hydro turbines just north of the dam.

The power generated by the plant will move to campus via underground transmission lines below N. Michigan Street and ultimately connect to the university just beyond Burke Golf Course.

When engineers open the gates to the plant, it’s expected to produce enough electricity to supply about 7% of the university’s needs on a more consistent basis than other forms of renewable energy, said Paul Kempf, assistant vice president of utilities and maintenance at the University of Notre Dame.

That’s important to the university as it’s aiming to completely eliminate its carbon footprint by 2050 in response to a 2015 papal encyclical on climate change.

Already, the university is more than halfway to its goal. In 2019, the university completed the conversion of its coal-fired power plant to natural gas and it’s also been making use of geothermal fields on campus to help offset the energy needed to heat and cool its buildings, Kempf explained.

Read the full story by Ed Semmler in the South Bend Tribune