
On Sept. 25, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission sent a letter to Corral Creek South Hydro LLC officially terminating a Jan. 9 preliminary permit for an 1,100-MW pumped storage hydro project in Idaho.
On Jan. 9, Corral Creek South Hydro was issued a preliminary permit to study the feasibility of the proposed Corral Creek Pumped Storage Project, to be located near Twin Falls in Twin Falls County, Idaho.
Article 4 of the preliminary permit requires that the permittee submit a progress report at the close of each six-month period from the effective date of the permit. The permittee was notified on Aug. 16 that its first progress report due on July 1 was overdue, and therefore, that the permit would likely be cancelled in no less than 30 days. “The permittee did not file a response; therefore, the preliminary permit is hereby cancelled,” said the Sept. 25 FERC letter.
The preliminary permit is cancelled effective the close of business on Oct. 25. No applications for this site may be submitted until after the cancellation is effective.
The proposed project would have included: an upper reservoir with surface area of 118 acres, storage capacity of 9,120 acre-feet, and maximum pool elevation of 6,620 feet mean sea level (msl); a lower reservoir with surface area of 113 acres, storage capacity of 10,880 acre-feet, and maximum pool elevation of 5,500 feet msl; a powerhouse containing four pump/turbine units with a total installed capacity of 1,100 MW; and a 10.6-mile-long, 500-kV transmission line. The estimated annual generation would be 3,212 gigawatt-hours.
The project company was represented in this permitting by Symbiotics LLC.