VIDALIA, La. – In the decade since it opened, delegations from around the globe have been to the Sidney A. Murray Jr. Hydroelectric Station to see how it makes power from the Mississippi River.

Most recently, the station sent information on the construction and operation of the plant to interested parties in the northeast United States, Murray said Tuesday.

They did not say they were looking at hydro power because the cost of natural gas-produced power risen four-fold in recent weeks. &uot;But I know that’s what it was,&uot;&160;Murray said.

After all, Murray had nearly the same thoughts more than two decades ago.

In 1977, Murray, then Vidalia’s mayor, first began to envision a power plant that would make electricity from the river and help stabilize electric rates even as the cost of power on the open market climbed due to rising oil prices.

&uot;My focus was on energy rates going up,&uot; Murray said. &uot;Back then, a real cloud was out there.

&uot;(Oil) is not a renewable resource, so I&160;could see rising rates were only going to get worse, and I was looking for a way to hold those rates off and stabilize them.&uot;

Getting the plant built, he acknowledged, took much effort.

The 25,000-ton, 13-story plant was built at Avondale Industries near New Orleans starting in December 1985 and was transported by barges up the Mississippi to its present location.

Sixteen countries and 24 states did subcontracting work and supplied materials to construct the plant, which is the largest prefabricated power plant in the world.

And it cost about $550 million from private investors to build.

Murray’s vision became reality in June 1990, when the station went online 40 miles south of Vidalia.

&uot;Hydro plants are capital-intensive to build. But in the long run, it’s really going to mean something to this town,&uot;&160;Murray said, referring to Vidalia, which buys power from the plant.

Not that there aren’t problems with hydro power. The hydro plant can produce up to 192 megawatts of electricity at one time – electricity which it then sells to individual providers. But in low-water times – the Mississippi River is now at 15.8 feet – it is able to produce only a fraction of that power.

That problem is being made even worse by the fact that the Red River, into which the station transfers water from the Mississippi River, now has a much greater flow rate that the Mississippi.

As a result of low Mississippi River levels and high Red River flow, the station was only producing 4.7 megawatts as of Tuesday – compared to more than 30 megawatts Dec. 11.

Still, Murray sees a bright future for hydro power, especially with the rising cost of natural gas and pressure being placed on energy producers to make environmentally friendly power.

&uot;Some states require (producers) to build alternative energy sources like hydro plants,&uot; he said. &uot;I do think we’re ahead of the curve.&uot;