The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission on Aug. 29 approved a preliminary permit for a 70-MW hydroelectric project in Alaska of Hydro Development LLC.
In February 2012, Hydro Development filed an application for a preliminary permit to study the feasibility of the Cascade Creek Hydroelectric Project, to be located on Swan Lake and Cascade Creek, near Petersburg, Alaska.
A preliminary permit gives a party a 36-month exclusive period to look at project feasibility, with a license application then needed if the decision is to pursue the project.
The project would include: the existing Swan Lake with surface area of 574 acres and useable storage capacity of 22,500 acre-feet; a 140-foot-long, 80-foot-wide concrete and metal powerhouse with three 23.3-MW vertical-shaft Pelton turbine units having a total installed capacity of 70 MW; and a 18.7-mile-long, 138-kV transmission line consisting of 10.5 miles of buried and/or submarine transmission line interconnecting with the existing Scow Bay substation.
The estimated annual generation of the Cascade Creek Project would be 200 gigawatt-hours.
