On Mon, 12 Jan 2009 18:27:50 -0600, Andy Asberry
wrote:

Water district pumps water from a lake 75 miles south to a local lake
405 feet higher. They propose to build a hydro generation plant on the
end of this pipeline before dumping it in the lake.

Am I missing something here?

This is a water district; not a power company.

Maybe I didn't explain this well. There is NO storage. They are
pumping it in one end of a pipe and putting the generator on the other
end. Power used and power generated is at the same time. Stop the
pump/stops the generator.

Seems to me placing a restriction in the pipe only increases the power
required to pump the water.

Maybe they figure the pipe is a transmission line. Possibly it is
cheaper than hanging wires.