An affiliate of Boston-based Free Flow Power, FFP Project 3 LLC, applied Sept. 4 at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission for a preliminary permit on a 45-MW hydro project on the Ohio River near Wheeling, W.Va.
A preliminary permit allows a developer the three-year exclusive right to look at project feasibility, with a license application the next step needed if the decision to proceed is made.
The Pike Island Hydroelectric Project would be at the existing Pike Island Lock and Dam of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, located between Belmont County, Ohio, and Ohio County, W.Va. The powerhouse would include three Kaplan turbines rated at 15 MW each. There would be a substation built at the site, which would connect via a 7,800-foot, 138-kV overhead power line to a substation at Tiltonsville, with the local utility being the Ohio Power unit of American Electric Power (NYSE: AEP).
The project would produce an average of 225 GWh per year.
