The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has gotten competing preliminary permit applications for a hydroelectric project at the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Dashields Lock and Dam on the Ohio River in Allegheny County, Pa.
On Aug. 30, Mid-Atlantic Hydro LLC (MAH) filed an application for a preliminary permit so it can study the feasibility of the Dashields Lock and Dam Hydroelectric Project at this site. The sole purpose of a preliminary permit, if issued, is to grant the permit holder priority to file a license application during the permit term.
MAH’s permit application was filed in competition with FFP Project 133 LLC’s proposed Dashields Lock and Dam Hydroelectric Project, which was publicly noticed on July 3. The deadline for filing competing applications was Sept. 1, so MAH’s permit application was timely filed.
FERC said in a Sept. 12 notice that for 60 days, it will take public comment on these competing applications and field any petitions to intervene in the case.
Details of the competing proposals are:
- The proposed MAH project would consist of: a new powerhouse located adjacent to the right descending bank immediately downstream of a 350-linear-foot section of the existing dam; fourteen Very Low Head (VLH) 4000 turbine units with a total capacity of 7 MW; a permanent submersible magnet generator housed in each turbine hub; and a new 69-kV transmission line about 2.1 miles long. The estimated annual generation of this project would be 41.4 gigawatt-hours.
- The FFP project would include: a new powerhouse 200 feet wide by 200 feet long; five horizontal bulb turbine-generators each rated at 5 MW; a new substation 40 feet wide by 60 feet long; and a new 69-kV transmission line approximately 2 miles long from the new substation to an existing substation. The estimated annual generation of this version of the project would be 120 gigawatt-hours.
