Bethel Mills Hydroelectric Facility

Hydroelectric Facility Improvements
Bethel, Vermont

The  Bethel Mill hydro-electric plant underwent significant improvements to its historic facility and selected the Turner Group for upgrades design and construction administration.  The project involved a turbine replacement, a new inflatable dam,  redesign of the river intake and trash rack (for enhanced debris handling and management), and a fish by-pass.  A unique alignment and structural design for the trash rack system was used to make the racks “self-cleaning” for most of the typical river debris encountered on the site. 

A fish sluice/by-pass plunge chamber was designed to work integrally with the rack system in order that the debris and fish passage can be accomplished as the same time without impact to the rack operation and injury to the fish.