The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission on Aug. 10 granted a January application from Whitewater Green Energy LLC for a successive preliminary permit allowing two extra years to study the feasibility of the Whitewater Hydroelectric Project, to be located on Russell and Whitewater creeks, near the town of Idanha in Marion and Linn counties, Oregon.
The project would be located entirely on U.S. Department of Agriculture/U.S Forest Service lands.
The proposed project would consist of these new facilities: a 9.5-foot-high, 40-foot-wide weir on Russell Creek; a 19,500-foot-long, 60-inch-diameter steel penstock; a 50-foot-long by 40-foot-wide concrete powerhouse containing one Pelton turbine rated at 11 MW; a 160-foot-long, 72-inch-diameter tailrace discharging into Whitewater Creek; an underground 2.25-mile-long, 12.4 kV transmission line extending from the powerhouse to a point of interconnection with a local utility transmission line; and an access road running alongside the penstock route.
The estimated annual generation of the Whitewater Creek Project would be 95.04 gigawatt-hours.
Whitewater Green Energy has previously held a preliminary permit for this site. The commission will grant successive permits if it concludes that the applicant has diligently pursued the requirements of its prior permits in good faith. Whitewater Green Energy has filed a Notice of Intent (NOI) and a Pre-Application Document (PAD), and has completed most of the studies demonstrating it has made progress during its prior permit term with the analysis of the project’s feasibility, and towards the development of its proposed project. It is expected that during this new permit term, agency consultation will be completed and a development application will be filed.
A project contact is: David Harmon P.E., 2532 Santiam Highway, Albany, Oregon 97322, Phone: 541-405-5236, dave@wwgreenenergy.com.
