FERC News

FERC issues license for Beaver City Canyon Plant No. 2 in Utah

FERC issues license for Beaver City Canyon Plant No. 2 in Utah

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has awarded a subsequent operating license with a term of 40 years to Beaver City Corporation for its Beaver City Canyon Plant No. 2 (P-1858) in Beaver County, Utah.

The run-of-river project, on the Beaver River, was originally licensed in August 1993, and that license expired July 31, 2023. It occupies federal land within the Fishlake National Forest and federal land managed by the Bureau of Land Management.

The project dam is a 65-ft-long, 15.5-ft-high concrete diversion dam topped with flashboards and includes a 35-ft-long central weir with a 6-ft-long notch to measure flows into the 2-mile-long bypassed reach. The dam also includes a 30-in-diameter gate valve intake that has a 4-ft by 14-ft trash rack.  At the normal water surface elevation of 6,766 ft, the project impoundment has a surface area of 0.15 acre and a storage capacity of about 1 acre-foot. Water flows through a 30-in-diameter, 11,632-ft-long steel penstock that leads to a 34-ft-long, 41-ft-wide stone powerhouse containing a 625 kW turbine-generator unit.  Flows through the powerhouse enter a 4-ft-wide, 150-ft-long tailrace channel and are discharged over a weir back into the Beaver River about 2.5 miles downstream of the diversion dam.

Electricity generated is transmitted through a 21,167-ft-long, 12.5-kV transmission line that connects to the grid interconnection point at the end of road 1620 E., about 1.7 miles from the intersection of North Main Street and Utah State Route 153 (SR 153) in Beaver. 

Beaver City Corporation’s license submittal indicated authorized capacity of the project will be increased to 720 kW from 625 kW. This would involve constructing a new 40-ft-long by 27-ft-wide metal-walled powerhouse, with a reinforced concrete foundation, to contain one turbine-generator with an installed capacity of 720 kW. The powerhouse would be located about 50 feet south of the existing powerhouse. Beaver City also proposes to construct a 43-ft-long tailrace that would consist of a 9-ft-long concrete section located immediately below the new powerhouse, with the remainder of the tailrace to be of earthen construction, rock-lined. Additionally, Beaver City proposes to construct an about 28-ft-long buried generator lead line from the new turbine-generator unit to a new 3.5-ft by 3.5-ft transformer, an about 33-ft-long buried transmission line from the new transformer to a new 40-ft-tall intermediate pole of wood and metal construction, and a 120-ft-long overhead transmission line from the intermediate pole to the start of the existing project transmission line.

Beaver City also proposes to reinforce the spillway crest of the project diversion dam by installing 0.75-inch rebar anchors every 2 feet along the crest to improve the long-term structural integrity of the spillway and to comply with dam safety regulations.

And Beaver City proposes to abandon in place the following project facilities: a 34-ft by 34-ft stone powerhouse, 625 kW turbine-generator, buried generator lead line of unknown length from the existing generator to the existing transformer, transformer, overhead transmission line of unknown length from the existing transformer to its interconnection with the existing transmission line, and 40-ft-long section of the buried penstock. About 50 feet of the existing penstock would be removed to allow construction of the proposed powerhouse foundation and the remaining 40 ft, between the new powerhouse foundation and the existing powerhouse, would be abandoned in place.