Merchant Hydro Developers LLC applied Jan. 10 to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission for a preliminary permit, good for up to three years, for the 230-MW Nockamixon Pumped Storage Hydro Project in Pennsylvania.
This application was made so that the applicant can 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 project site is in Bucks County, Pa., near Kintnersville, on the Delaware Canal.
Based on current conceptual design, the Nockamixon Pumped Storage Hydro Project involves the construction of an open-loop pumped-storage hydroelectric facility. The basic configuration would include:
- As many as two pumping/generating units contained in a powerhouse;
- Use of the Delaware Canal as the lower reservoir; and
- An upper reservoir.
The plant would have a nominal total capacity of 230 MW, made up of two Francis or Pelton turbines. Jersey Central Power and Light (JCPL) owns the Gilbert Hosensack 230/345 kV transmission line that crosses within the project boundary.
Said the application: “Through the development of the proposed Nockamixon Pumped Storage Hydro Project, the applicant will provide an additional source of clean, renewable energy that will provide added stability and capacity to the PJM and or State of Pennsylvania’s energy markets. It is proposed that the electricity generated at the Nockamixon Pumped Storage Hydro Project will be offered to the State or sold at market rates to either an electric utility marketer or through the PJM Independent System Operator for transmission to the electric grid. Based upon available feasibility and marketing studies conducted for the electric power market in the vicinity of the proposed project, project revenues are expected to be adequate to construct and operate the Nockamixon Pumped Storage Hydro Project and to yield a reasonable rate of return on investment.”
A project contact is: Merchant Hydro Developers LLC, Adam Rousselle, 5710 Oak Crest Drive, Doylestown, Pa 18902, arousselle@merchanthydro.com, phone 267-254-6107.
Incidentally, Merchant Hydro Developers on Jan. 9 also applied to FERC for a preliminary permit for the 230-MW Richmondale Pumped Storage Hydro Project in Lackawanna and Wayne counties, Pa.
