The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission on June 3 picked an April 2015 preliminary permit application from Lock+™ Hydro Friends Fund II as the winner for a project in Alabama.
The preliminary permit would allow Hydro Friends up to three years to exclusivity to study the feasibility of the Coffeeville Lock and Dam Hydropower Project, to be located at the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Coffeeville Lock and Dam on the Tombigbee River in Clark and Choctaw counties, Alabama.
In November 2015, Energy Resources USA Inc. had filed an application for a competing preliminary permit for the same site.
- Hydro Friends’ project would consist of: a 150-foot-long, 25-foot-wide lock frame module containing twelve generating units with a total capacity of 27 MW; a 150-foot-long; 65-foot-wide tailrace; a 50-foot-long, 25-foot-wide switchyard; and a 1-mile-long, 34.5-kV transmission line. The project would have an estimated average annual generation of 153,738 megawatt-hours, and operate as directed by the Corps.
- Energy Resources’ project would have consisted of: a 500-foot-long, 200-foot-wide intake channel; a 131-foot-long, 197-foot-wide powerhouse containing three generating units with a total capacity of 33 MW; a 400-foot-long, 20-foot-wide tailrace; a substation; a 34-mile-long addition to the existing access road; and a 3-mile-long, 69-kV transmission line. The project was to have an estimated average annual generation of 186,000 megawatt-hours, and would have operated as directed by the Corps.
Said the June 3 FERC order: “Because Hydro Friends has the first-filed application, the preliminary permit is issued to Hydro Friends for the Coffeeville Lock and Dam Hydropower Project No. 14673.”
