The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission on Nov. 16 issued a notice about a recent hydroelectric license application filed with the commission by GB Energy Park LLC for the 400-MW Gordon Butte Pumped Storage Project, to be located approximately three miles west of the city of Martinsdale in Meagher County, Montana.
The applicant contact is: Carl. E. Borgquist, President, GB Energy Park LLC, 209 Wilson Avenue, P.O. Box 309, Bozeman, MT 59771; (406) 585-3006; carl@absarokaenergy.com. The deadline for filing motions to intervene and protests is 60 days from the issuance date of this notice.
The Gordon Butte Pumped Storage Project would consist of the following new facilities:
- a manually operated head gate on an existing irrigation canal that provides initial fill and annual make-up water to the lower reservoir from the existing irrigation canal;
- a 3,000-foot-long, 1,000-foot-wide upper reservoir created by a 60-foot-high, 7,500-foot-long concrete-faced rockfill dam;
- a reinforced concrete intake/outlet structure at the upper reservoir with six gated intake bays converging into a central 18-foot-diameter, 750-foot-long vertical shaft;
- an 18-foot-diameter, 3,000- foot-long concrete and steel-lined penstock tunnel leading from the upper reservoir to the lower reservoir;
- a 2,300-foot-long, 1,900-foot-wide lower reservoir created by a combination of excavation and two 60-foot-high, 500- and 750-foot-long concrete-faced rockfill dams;
- a partially buried 338-foot-long, 109-foot-wide, 74-foot-high reinforced concrete and steel powerhouse with four 100-MW ternary Pelton turbine/pump/generators;
- a 600-foot-long, 200-foot-wide substation at the powerhouse site with 13.8-kV to 230-kV step-up transformers;
- a 5.7-mile-long, 230-kV transmission line; and
- a substation with a 230-kV to 500-kV step-up transformer, connecting to an existing non-project 500-kV transmission line.
FERC also on Nov. 16 sent a letter to GB Energy asking for additional details related to various elements of the project.
