Hydro Currents

FERC receives state water quality certification for 739.182-MW Catawba-Wateree

South Carolina has filed a revised water quality certification allowing the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to proceed with relicensing Duke Energy’s 739.182-MW Catawba-Wateree project. Last April, FERC agreed with a South Carolina appeals court that found the state did not waive its right to issue water quality certification necessary for relicensing of the project.

In July, Duke entered an agreement with the South Carolina Department of Health and Environment, American Rivers and the South Carolina Coastal Conservation League to terminate all disputes over whether the department had waived its certification under Clean Water Act Section 401. Duke refiled its application for water quality certification and the department issued certification containing conditions set forth in the agreement.

FERC received on Feb. 23 South Carolina’s new water quality certification containing conditions concerning reservoir elevations, recreation and habitat flows, species protection and water quality monitoring. CWA gives states one year to review an application, while South Carolina law gives only 180 days, after which point the state has waived, or given up, its right to certification allowing FERC to proceed.

Premier weighs in on labor dispute for Canada’s Site C

British Columbia Premier Christy Clark instructed Jessica McDonald, chief executive officer of BC Hydro, to change the contract terms for the 1,100-MW Site C project to allow unions to organize at the construction site. This intervention came shortly after the BC and Yukon Territory Building and Construction Trades Council filed a lawsuit against BC Hydro.

Construction of this facility on the Peace River is expected to cost nearly C$8.8 billion and provide about 10,000 direct construction jobs.

For more than 50 years, BC Hydro has built its major projects using labor agreements under which non-union contractors could bid on the work, but workers had to belong to a building trade union. Under the new model for Site C, contractors could bring in non-union workers and the unions would be prohibited from organizing those workers. BC Hydro said this arrangement would promote stability in the work force and give contractors access to the largest pool of skilled workers, news agencies reported.

However, the council says the proposed change violates the federal Charter of Rights and BC Hydro cannot stipulate such a restriction in its contracts.

License still revoked for failure to build fish passage

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission rejected a request for rehearing and affirmed its revocation of the hydropower license of the 687-kW East Juliette project.

FERC’s Oct. 16, 2014, license revocation outlined years of orders to Eastern Hydroelectric Corp. for consultations, filings of plans and commencement of fish passage construction at the project. FERC said Eastern’s failure to make meaningful progress in 12 years gave it no reason to believe the licensee intends to comply.

The 20-foot-tall, 1,230-foot-long concrete gravity dam on the Ocmulgee River in Jones County, Ga., blocks anadromous fish passage from the Atlantic Ocean to the Ocmulgee. The project includes a 458-kW powerhouse and a powerhouse containing a 229-kW unit that has not operated since 1999. In 2002, the commission granted Eastern’s 2000 application to amend the license to allow construction of a third 1.2-MW powerhouse, which the licensee never built. The amendment contained additional conditions requiring construction of fish passage facilities.

Eastern filed a request for rehearing and also what it called a notice that it was withdrawing its 2000 amendment application. In a rehearing order Feb. 19, FERC rejected both the request for rehearing and the attempted withdrawal of the amendment.

Eastern filed Nov. 14 a notice that it was withdrawing its application for the amendment. Eastern argued that then FERC’s 2002 amendment order must be revoked or otherwise invalidated. FERC soundly rejected that tactic. “… A proceeding ends when the commission (or its delegate) issues an order and that order becomes final. After that point, a party can no longer withdraw a pleading made in a completed proceeding in an effort to change the result of a final order,” the commission said.

HRF announces New Pathways for Hydropower report

The Hydro Research Foundation has released a report, called New Pathways for Hydropower: Getting Hydropower Built — What Does It Take? This report identifies technological innovations that will decrease the expense and time required to deploy new hydropower in the U.S. Several of the 31 ideas identified address the need to nurture hydro-specific innovation and education. The focus of the report is new small hydro, but many of the ideas are applicable to hydropower development in general.

Ideas are grouped into eight categories:

Improved tools for siting, prequalification and feasibility determination
New and improved design tools — guidelines and standards
Improved access to design-related information — online toolboxes and databases
New hydropower-specific education, training and outreach
Advanced and improved technology, materials and manufacturing
Standardized and modular designs
New and improved electrical standards and practices
Tools for commissioning, operation and maintenance

This report, at www.hydrofoundation.org, is part of the New Hydropower Innovation Collaborative, a partnership between HRF and Oak Ridge National Laboratory, with support from the U.S. Department of Energy Water Power Program.

Cube Hydro buys 10 small projects from Harbor Hydro

Renewables developer Cube Hydro Partners LLC has acquired a 100% interest in 10 run-of-river hydroelectric projects from Harbor Hydro LLC, the New York-based company reported.

The plants — located in Pennsylvania, Virginia and West Virginia — have a cumulative output capacity of 83 MW.

Cube Hydro Partners is a joint venture formed by Enduring Hydro. It is a portfolio company of the ISQ Global Infrastructure Fund L.P. and its affiliated funds. The company targets investments in mid-sized greenfield and operating hydro projects in the U.S. and Canada. Cube Hydro has more than 106 MW of cumulative capacity.

FERC authorizes 19 projects totaling 1,937 MW in 2014

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission issued 19 hydropower licenses and exemptions in 2014, totaling 1,936.744 MW. It also received applications in the same period for 18 licenses and exemptions totaling 261 MW.

Of those 19, 12 were conventional licenses totaling 150.444 MW, three were pumped-storage projects totaling 1,736 MW, one was a hydrokinetic license of 600 kW, and three were conduit exemptions totaling 49.7 MW. That compares to 2013: six conventional licenses totaling 19.06 MW, four (maximum) 10-MW exemptions totaling 1.033 MW, and six conduit exemptions totaling 972 kW.

FERC approved two capacity amendments to existing licenses totaling 5.185 MW. That compares to four capacity amendments totaling 10.575 MW in 2013.

Applications were filed in 2014 for 18 licenses and exemptions totaling 261 MW. Of those, 14 were for conventional licenses totaling 209.8 MW, two were for (maximum) 10-MW exemptions totaling 1.8 MW, and two were for conduit exemptions totaling 49.4 MW.

The four projects placed in service in 2014 included three licenses totaling 11.805 MW and one 10-MW exemption of 700 kW, as well as one capacity amendment of 17 MW. That compares to 2013: four licenses totaling 94.738 MW; one (maximum) 10-MW exemption of 850 kW; one conduit exemption of 37 kW; and three capacity amendments totaling 5.06 MW.

The December 2014 update is available at www.ferc.gov/legal/staff-reports/2014/dec-infrastructure.pdf.

Gravity Renewables buys 3.5-MW Stillwater project

Gravity Renewables has completed the acquisition of the 3.5-MW Stillwater hydropower plant on New York’s Hudson River. The plant, between Albany and Saratoga Springs, was commissioned in 1993 and formerly owned by Stillwater Hydro Associates, LLC.

“We’re extremely happy to be increasing our New York portfolio,” Gravity Renewables Chief Executive Officer Ted Rose said. “Saratoga County is home to a number of small hydro resources — resources that provide dependable clean energy and support local communities.”

Gravity Renewables is based in Boulder, Colo., and has 30 MW of hydroelectric projects operating and under development in seven states.

FERC proposes sale of primary frequency response service at market rates

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has issued proposed rules that would allow the sale of primary frequency response service at market-based rates. The notice of proposed rulemaking (RM15-2), issued Feb. 19, is intended to promote competition in anticipation of growing demand for the service as a result of a reliability standard that requires Balancing Authorities to meet a minimum frequency response obligation.

Hydropower could gain value by providing primary frequency response services. FERC proposes to allow the sale of this service at market-based rates by sellers with market-based rate authority for energy and capacity. This response involves the autonomous, automatic and rapid response of a generator or other resource to change its output to rapidly dampen large changes in frequency, which must be maintained within predetermined boundaries to ensure reliable operation of the North American electric system.

The commission said most Balancing Authorities should be able to use their own resources to meet the Frequency Response and Frequency Bias Setting Reliability Standard approved by FERC in January 2014. However, the standard does not limit how Balancing Authorities meet the requirements. The commission said some might be interested in voluntary purchases of a primary frequency response product if doing so would be economically beneficial.

Federal budget proposal includes millions for U.S. hydroelectric power, dams

President Barack Obama’s Fiscal Year 2016 budget requests include a number of requests for both the U.S. Department of Energy and U.S. Department of Interior’s Bureau of Reclamation that could provide significant funding for hydroelectric power.

The President’s proposal includes more than US$67 million for DOE’s Water Power Program, with funds being split $25.5 million for conventional and pumped-storage hydropower, and $40.8 million for MHK. The DOE proposal represents more than $6 million in additional funding for the conventional hydropower program, with a $300,000 dip for MHK from the past fiscal year.

The budget request includes $1.1 billion for Reclamation to invest in the safety, reliability and efficiency of America’s water infrastructure and in addressing the nation’s water supply challenges, the agency said. The budget reflects Reclamation’s challenges in addressing the drought facing America’s west.

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