Essex conducted an initial assessment of the hydropower potential of three former dam sites on the Black River in New York. The scope of the assignment included, developing conceptual project configurations; identification of environmental issues, capital and operating costs, installed capacity and energy production. Results of the desktop were used by the client to make an initial “Go/No Go” decision. Essex was able to leverage existing publically available information to prepare and secure a FERC preliminary permit and develop a Preliminary Application Document (PAD) for two promising project configurations. Unfortunately, despite being technically feasible and economically promising, the projects were not pursued due to circumstances beyond our control.