The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission on July 22 granted an April 12 application from Rivertec Partners LLC for a preliminary permit to study the feasibility of the proposed Sherman Hydroelectric Project, to be located at the John Day Dam Juvenile Fish Sampling and Monitoring Facility on the Columbia River near the City of Rufus in Sherman County, Oregon.
The proposed project would utilize flows at the existing Juvenile Fish Facility, and would consist of these new features: a 7-foot-diameter, 55-foot-long steel penstock connecting with the Juvenile Fish Facility’s existing screened excess water pipe; a 71.2-foot-long, 26.2-foot-wide, 16.4-foot-high concrete and steel powerhouse; a 4.2-MW turbine generator; a 10.6-foot-diameter, 31.8-foot-long steel draft tube returning flows to the Columbia River; and either a 1,400-foot-long, 13.8-kV transmission line interconnecting with the existing John Day Dam transformer, or an approximately 120-foot-long, 4.16-kV or 13.8-kV transmission line interconnecting with the existing Bonneville Power Administration substation.
The estimated annual generation of the Sherman Project would be 33 gigawatthours.
During the course of the three-year permit, the commission expects that the permittee will carry out prefiling consultation and study development leading to the possible development of a license application.
