The U.S. Department of Energy last week helped kick off a hydropower facility modernization project at the Cheoah Dam in Robbinsville, North Carolina that us expected to produce over 28% more power from existing water resources.
The project is supported by $12.9 million in funding under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act and $110 million from the private sector. The Cheoah Dam supplies power to Alcoa Inc.’s (NYSE: AA) primary aluminum production factory in Alcoa, Tennessee and surrounding communities.
The operators of Cheoah Dam estimate that this project can save the 40 hydropower operation jobs and 1,600 aluminum production jobs that would be lost if this facility’s 90-year old equipment, which has exceeded its typical useful life, were to fail.
Upgrades like the ones planned for Cheoah Dam represent significant opportunities to make hydropower even more cost-effective. This project will boost the Cheoah Dam’s total generating capacity to 129 megawatts (MW), reduce the plant’s dependence on fossil fuels by 60% and add 40-50 years to the facility’s life. The work will not require any dam modifications or significant regulatory delays.
The Cheoah Dam is located on the Little Tennessee River in western North Carolina and was completed in 1919. Four of the five hydropower turbines at this facility are original equipment, with the fifth added in 1949. The modernization upgrades include replacing the oldest units with new high-efficiency turbines, generators, and transformers, and upgrading other equipment plant-wide.
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The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) and the State of Colorado have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to simplify procedures authorizing the development of small-scale hydropower projects in Colorado.
FERC has seen rising interest among entities seeking to develop small, low-impact hydropower projects, and federal surveys have identified several hundred potential small hydropower projects of smaller than 5 MW in Colorado with a combined capacity of more than 1,400 MW.
Under the MOU, Colorado will develop a pilot program to test options for simplifying and streamlining procedures for authorizing conduit exemptions and small 5MW or less exemption projects while ensuring environmental safeguards.n FERC will waive certain consultation requirements when all relevant resources agencies agree to do so.
FERC has signed MOUs with four other states recently on the development of hydrokinetic projects: California, Washington, Maine, and Oregon.
FERC said it will soon unveil a new web page devoted to small hydropower licensing at the site below.
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