Can you provide some background on Kleinschmidt Associates?
Kleinschmidt Associates is a leading engineering, regulatory, and environmental consulting firm that has specialized in hydropower for over 55 years. We balance technical expertise with practical experience to help our clients solve complex renewable energy, water, and environmental challenges. We began in 1966 as a small firm in Maine, and today, we’ve grown into a mid-sized, employee-owned company that operates as one company, with 12 offices and multiple virtual employees working closely with clients throughout the US and Canada .
What are the company’s core values, and how do you engage with the community?
Our core values revolve around having an ownership attitude, not only in our ownership of Kleinschmidt, but for our clients, putting ourselves in their shoes and trying to find the best solutions for them and “doing the right thing”. We focus on developing our employees – their technical skills as well as leadership and communication, project management and other areas.
These values shape everything we do, from our internal culture to how we serve our communities.
Our staff are involved in initiatives in the communities where we live including STEM initiatives, working closely with junior high and high schools to inspire future generations to enter hydro engineering and related fields. We also support numerous industry organizations and initiatives as well, including our role as founding sponsors of the Hydropower Foundation’s Waterpower Club – Waterpower Community Partnership at colleges across the US.
What hydropower engineering services do you offer?
Our hydropower engineering services include all aspects of hydro design –and we regularly perform conceptual through final design for new or expanded hydropower facilities. We are industry leaders in fish passage design, integrating our biological understanding of fishery science with our engineering skills to design all types of upstream and downstream passage facilities for numerous fish species.
Kleinschmidt is also known for our comprehensive dam safety expertise, and we have a number of FERC approved dam safety inspectors. We also inspect and design gates, penstocks, and spillway structures, perform hydraulic modeling and other services to meet each client and project’s unique requirements. Our team’s diverse expertise in civil, structural, hydraulic, mechanical, electrical, and geotechnical disciplines allows us to create tailored solutions for both new and existing hydropower projects.
How are you involved in pumped storage hydropower?
We have managed or had significant involvement in relicensing eight pumped storage projects and are currently managing two other pumped storage relicensing efforts. We’ve been actively involved in engineering and environmental feasibility studies for new or potential pumped storage projects and have developed preliminary designs and opinions of cost for a number of pumped storage projects.
Our team has also contributed to repairing and upgrading more than 20 pumped storage projects.
Pumped storage is increasingly being investigated as the need for large-scale energy storage is growing in response to the continued development of large-scale intermittent renewable energy sources (e.g., wind and solar power).
What services do you provide for structural integrity and environmental protection?
We are leaders in dam safety engineering, offering hydrologic and hydraulic modeling services, emergency action plans, and routine safety inspections. Our expertise helps safeguard communities and the environment, providing peace of mind for our clients. We manage dam removal projects when necessary, addressing structural, financial, safety, or regulatory concerns with our clients’ best interests in mind.
How do you integrate science and regulation?
In fisheries engineering, we provide services that mitigate environmental impacts and enhance aquatic ecosystems. Our team of biologists, engineers, and regulatory specialists offer unmatched expertise in fish passage design, habitat restoration, and regulatory compliance. Kleinschmidt has provided biological and engineering fisheries engineering consulting services for more than 250 projects throughout the US and Canada.
What other services do you offer?
We offer wetland and habitat investigations, stream flow regulation studies, fisheries and aquatic organism assessments, steam electric 316(a) and (b) compliance, rare, threatened, and endangered species assessments, recreation facilities design, bridge and culvert hydraulic design, and watershed planning.
We have found our clients often need a broad range of services to address their environmental and engineering challenges.
