NSP/Xcel renewed its license which was authorized by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission in March 2004. One condition of the license is the creation of a recreation area to show the evolution of St. Anthony Falls. A portion of the island overlooking the falls has been made into Water Power Park, allowing the closest possible approaches to the falls. In 2008, NSP/Xcel collaborated with the University of Minnesota's St. Anthony Falls Laboratory on 'StreamLab', an 'experimental stream channel and floodplain system'[3] which improves two existing flood bypass channels to study the site's ecology and hydrology.[1]
Crown Hydro, LLC, has proposed another hydro plant for the falls, to be built on the opposite bank of the Mississippi next to the Stone Arch Bridge.[5]
Notes
^ abXcel Energy, (2006), St. Anthony Hydro Project (PDF)