Magnolia Water LLC on July 27 filed with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission a revised application for a three-year preliminary permit for the 1,200-MW Magnolia Water Pumped Storage Hydroelectric Project in Oklahoma.
This application was made in order that the applicant may secure and maintain priority of application for a license for the project while obtaining the data and performing the acts required to determine the feasibility of the project and to support an application for a license. The site is in Pushmataha County, Oklahoma, ten miles south of Whitesboro.
There is no existing dam or project facility at the site. A new dam will be constructed across Long Creek to form the Upper Reservoir. An off-channel dam will be constructed south of the Kiamichi River to form the impoundment for the lower reservoir. An in-channel weir approximately 2 to 5 feet high will be constructed across the Kiamichi River to form a pool from where water can be diverted to a wet well and pumped to fill the lower reservoir to provide make up water lost due to evaporation and percolation.
However, in the design phase the weir may be eliminated and only an off channel wet well may be constructed to avoid disturbing the pool elevation of the river in order to avoid impacting the flow regimes in the river and to protect mussels found along the river bed. Flow regimes will be monitored and pumping will only be done when there Is sufficient water flow that the base flow, downstream of the diversion point that is required for the survival of the mussels, is maintained, the application said.
The project will consist of two, approximately 60,000 acre-feet reservoirs, four steel and reinforced concrete-tunneled penstocks, connecting to four, 300-MW generating pump/turbine units located in a powerhouse.
A 345-kV transmission line will connect the facility to the Kiamichi Substation located in Kiowa, Oklahoma, which is 80 miles west of the site.
A project contact is: Fred Brown P.E. (Agent), 4265 Kellway Circle, Addison, TX 75001, (972) 239-0707, fbrown@tomlininvestments.com.
