Gary and Doris Eberhardt usually don’t host large meetings at their home.
The couple from just west of Rochester live in a retreat at the base of a former rock quarry, tucked neatly into the corner of a hill complete with a pond and waterfall.
But that waterfall, and how the Eberhardts have been able to harness its power, were the main focus of a meeting of a group led by Centralia College students Kelly Fetters and Gabriel Kelly.
“We heard about the Eberhardts creating their own hydroelectric power generator and we wondered if we could adapt the same thing elsewhere,” said Fetters.
“Elsewhere” would be the farm of Toledo farmer Reuben Herndon, whose property straddles the Cowlitz River just a few miles from town. He attended the meeting to learn more about how Gary Eberhardt harnessed the power of a small creek to provide electricity for next to nothing. Herndon and the group took great interest as Eberhardt showed the group inside a shed containing an array of generators and turbines to turn the power of water into electricity.
“I want to do this same thing on my own property, and I’m really encouraged by what I see here,” said Herndon. “I’ve researched building my own hydroelectric power station for years, but it had always seemed like the first investment would be greater than the return.”
If The Eberhardts are any indication, the return is great: they generate enough electricity to sell back to the power company throughout most of the year. Their setup is simple, as a series of PVC piping runs from the top of a hill down to a shed that contains two generators and an inverter. The simple power of the flowing water — usually in the neighborhood of 50 to 60 gallons per minute — is converted into electricity, and the water subsequently flows back into a man-made pond, where it slowly flows back to the creek.
The entire system, Gary Eberhardt said, only cost about $10,000 to set up.
“Everything takes a lot of power,” said Eberhardt. “The initial cost was big, but we get to sell electricity back to the power company and beat the system.”
Fetters and Kelly, participating in Centralia College’s power operation and energy technology class, are looking to apply their knowledge and training to help Herndon adapt the Eberhardts’ system to his farm. Herndon’s property contains a 50-by-150 foot pond roughly four-feet deep with a 20-foot drop on one end — an ideal setup to run a similar hydroelectric system. The two students volunteered their time outside the classroom to devote to a project they find exciting and potentially lifestyle-changing.
“We’re just coming up with some ideas right now to see how we can help Mr. Herndon and other people potentially in the future,” said Fetters. “Coming up here and seeing this hydro system firsthand is giving us a ton of ideas.”
Meanwhile, Reuben Herndon remains excited about the possibility of his very own power generating system. Along with Fetters and Kelly, he looks forward to researching more about harnessing the gentle flow of the Cowlitz River to not only bring electricity to his own farm, but also more people over time.
“The financial incentives to doing this are enough to encourage folks to be self-supportive,” said Herndon. “Who knows? Maybe everyone could do this someday.”
