[Federal Register Volume 85, Number 246 (Tuesday, December 22, 2020)]
[Notices]
[Pages 83540-83541]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2020-28237]
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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission
[Project No. 1855-050]
Great River Hydro, LLC; Notice Establishing Procedural Schedule
for Licensing and Deadline for Submission of Final Amendments
Take notice that the following amended hydroelectric application
has been filed with the Commission and is available for public
inspection.
a. Type of Application: New Major License.
b. Project No.: 1855-050.
c. Date Material Amendments Filed: December 7, 2020.
d. Applicant: Great River Hydro, LLC (Great River Hydro).
e. Name of Project: Bellows Falls Hydroelectric Project.
f. Location: The existing project is located on the Connecticut
River in Windsor and Windham Counties, Vermont, and Sullivan and
Cheshire Counties, New Hampshire. There are no federal lands within the
project boundary.
g. Filed Pursuant to: Federal Power Act, 16 U.S.C. 791(a)-825(r).
h. Applicant Contact: John Ragonese, FERC License Manager, Great
River Hydro, LLC, 40 Pleasant Street, Suite 202, Portsmouth, NH 03801;
(603) 498-2851 or jragonese@greatriverhydro.com.
i. FERC Contact: Steve Kartalia, (202) 502-6131 or
stephen.kartalia@ferc.gov.
j. This application is not ready for environmental analysis at this
time.
k. Great River Hydro filed an application for a new license for the
Bellows Falls Hydroelectric Project No. 1855 on May 1, 2017. In the
license application, Great River Hydro stated that it could not develop
a complete licensing proposal for the project since many of the
required environmental studies were not complete as of May 1, 2017.
Great River Hydro indicated that it would amend the license application
after completing additional field work, consultation, and analyses on
the required studies. Great River Hydro filed material amendments to
the final license application on December 7, 2020.
l. Project Description: The existing Bellows Falls Project consists
of: (1) A 643-foot-long, 30-foot-high concrete dam that includes: (a)
Two 18-foot-high, 115-foot-wide steel roller gates; (b) two 13-foot-
high, 121-foot-wide stanchion flashboards; and (c) a 13-foot-high, 100-
foot-wide stanchion flashboard; (2) a 26-mile-long, 2,804-acre
impoundment with a useable storage volume of 7,467 acre-feet between
elevations 288.63 and 291.63 feet National Geodetic Vertical Datum of
1929 (NGVD 29); (3) a 1,700-foot-long, 36- to 100-foot-wide, 29-foot-
deep stone-lined power canal; (4) a 130.25-foot-wide concrete forebay
that includes trashracks with 4-inch clear bar spacing; (5) a 186-foot-
long, 106-foot-wide, 52-foot-high steel frame, brick powerhouse
containing three 13.6-megawatt (MW) vertical Francis turbine-generator
units, for a total project capacity of 40.8 MW; (6) three approximately
20-foot-high, 31-foot-wide concrete draft tubes; (7) a 900-foot-long
tailrace; (8) a 12-foot-wide, 10-foot-high ice sluice; (9) three 80-
foot-long, 6.6-kilovolt generator leads that connect the turbine-
generator units to two step-up transformers; (10) a 920-foot-long, 8-
foot-wide fishway; (11) a concrete fish barrier dam in the bypassed
reach; and (12) appurtenant facilities.
Great River Hydro operates the project in coordination with its
upstream Wilder Project No. 1892 and downstream Vernon Project No. 1904
and in a peaking mode. Average annual generation is approximately
239,070 MW-hours. Great River Hydro is proposing changes to project
operation that would reduce impoundment fluctuations and increase the
stability of downstream flow releases relative to current project
operation, including targeted water surface elevation levels and flow
ramping rates. Great River Hydro proposes several protection,
mitigation, and enhancement measures for aquatic, terrestrial,
cultural, and recreation resources, and threatened and endangered
species. The specific proposed changes are described in the amended
application.
m. In addition to publishing the full text of this notice in the
Federal Register, the Commission provides all interested persons an
opportunity to view and/or print the contents of this notice, as well
as other documents in the proceeding (e.g., license application) via
the internet through the Commission's Home Page (http://www.ferc.gov)
using the eLibrary link. Enter the docket number excluding the last
three digits in the docket number field to access the document (P-
1855). At this time, the Commission has suspended access to the
Commission's Public Reference Room due to the proclamation declaring a
National Emergency concerning the Novel Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19)
issued by the President on March 13, 2020. For assistance, contact FERC
at FERCOnlineSupport@ferc.gov or call toll-free, (866) 208-3676 or
(202) 502-8659 (TTY).
n. You may also register online at https://ferconline.ferc.gov/FERCOnline.aspx to be notified via email of new filings and issuances
related to this or other pending projects. For assistance, contact FERC
Online Support.
o. Procedural Schedule: The application will be processed according
to the following preliminary Hydro Licensing Schedule. Revisions to the
schedule may be made as appropriate.
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Milestone Target date
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Commission issues letter identifying January 2021.
application deficiencies and requesting
additional information.
Notice of Acceptance/Notice of Ready for May 2021.
Environmental Analysis.
Filing of recommendations, preliminary terms July 2021.
and conditions, and fishway prescriptions.
Reply Comments due........................... August 2021.
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[[Page 83541]]
p. Final amendments to the application must be filed with the
Commission no later than 30 days from the issuance date of the notice
of ready for environmental analysis.
Dated: December 16, 2020.
Kimberly D. Bose,
Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2020-28237 Filed 12-21-20; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6717-01-P