In 1874 Lawrence Kansas residents had burned all the region's wood, and fossil fuels were not available. Orlando Darling built a dam across the Kansas River north of town and strung mechanical cables from a water wheel to power local industries. Justin Bowersock bought the operation, naming it "The Bowersock Mills & Power Company" (Bowersock). Bowersock's slogan is:
Producing clean, renewable hydropower since 1874
By 1885, twelve water wheels drove two flouring mills, a paper mill,
two elevators, a twine factory, shirt factory, two machine shops, the
Leis chemical works, two printing offices, the barb wire works and a
few other minor industries... Rebuilding from the ice damage of 1888...
Bowersock introduced four dynamos that turned raw power into electrical
energy.
History of Bowersock Power. To supplement the
old 2.4 MW plant on the south side of the
river, Bowersock added a
new 4.6 MW plant on the north side.
To raise funds for the new 4.6 MW plant, Bowersock signed a 25-year power-purchase agreement with Kansas City's Board of Public Utilities (BPU), saying Bowersock must send BPU (annual average power) ≥ (80% of its total generating capacity). Instantaneous power is proportional to (water flow rate) ✗ (water height difference). Because the river's flow varies with rainfall, the power delivered also varies. To maximize deliverable energy, Bowersock employs a run-of-the-river policy. This keeps the upstream water level as high as possible and uses whatever flow occurs with the maximum upstream level.
Energy is stored in the height of the upsteam water. By intentionally varying this height, Bowersock could use the stored energy to offset variation in local rate of consumption or renewable power generation. But this might compromise Bowersock's contract with BPU. Therefore: Until the BPU contract ends, energy stored in the water behind the dam is not available to Lawrence.