The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission on July 22 granted a March 11 application from Energy Resources USA Inc. for a preliminary permit under which the company would study the feasibility of the proposed Monroe Lake Dam Hydroelectric Project, to be located at the existing Monroe Lake Dam on the Salt Creek River, near the town of Bloomington, in Monroe County, Indiana.
The Monroe Lake Dam is owned by the federal government and operated by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Louisville District.
The proposed project would consist of these new facilities: a 90-foot-long concrete conduit; a 98-foot-long by 45-foot-wide reinforced concrete powerhouse containing two 2-MW vertical Kaplan turbine-generators having a total combined generating capacity of 4 MW; a 300-foot-long by 95-foot-wide tailrace; a 60-foot-long by 50-foot-wide substation with a 5-megavolt-ampere 4.16/69-kilovolt three-phase step-up transformer; and a 3-mile-long, 69-kV transmission line. The project would generate annually about 13.5 gigawatt-hours.
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.
