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Today, the plant supplies power to the entire village of Green Island.
The plant works under a simple premise -- ''seventh-grade science,'' Besha said.
Located at a drop in the river, often adjacent to locks, gravity forces water downward through a 15-foot wide turbine blade, causing it to turn. The movement of the turbine turns four generators that convert the energy of the water movement into electricity.
In the case of Green Island, 6,000 kilowatts are generated -- enough to power 6,000 homes.
The village's Power Authority is one of only three government-affiliated power authorities in the state, Besha said.
The nonprofit authority charges its customers 3 cents per kilowatt hour, compared with corporate utility companies that can charge as much as 12 cents per kilowatt hour.
Under Besha's company, the Green Island plant has streamlined its production of electricity. Everything is automated, he said, and can be monitored remotely on the Internet.
Computers store information on the power and water that go through the system and security cameras monitor the plant.
The plant used to require two workers per shift, Besha said. Now it requires just one to monitor the plant.
Inside the plant, Besha walks along a catwalk inside the building overlooking water as it flows through a metal grate. The grate keeps logs from entering the turbine chamber.
''You'd be amazed what you get,'' he said.
Trapped objects have included dead bodies, shopping carts and more than 100 basketballs a year.
Useable basketballs are donated to the village recreation department.
''There were so many that we said we might as well use them,'' Besha said.
After changing hands between Ford, NiMo and another power company named Orion, Albany Engineering came onto the scene in 2000.
Over the past three years, the company worked under the power authority to bring the plant up to date. Within a month of finishing its work on the plant's equipment, the amount of power produced there doubled, Besha said.
He said the Power Authority was able to continue to serve Green Island as Albany Engineering worked. The plant has been operating continuously since it opened in 1920, Besha said.
As physical work on the plant nears completion, Albany Engineering will continue to oversee day-to-day operation under the Green Island Power Authority.
