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Tivis Branch Hydro files license application for 1.44 MW Flannagan Hydroelectric project

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Tivis Branch Hydro files license application for 1.44 MW Flannagan Hydroelectric project

Tivis Branch Hydro has filed a license application with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission for the 1.44 MW Flannagan Hydroelectric Project (P-15296) in Virginia.

The FERC preliminary permit for the project was issued in July 2023. The site was previously the subject of a hydropower license (P-12740) issued in 2012 and amended in 2021. That license was surrendered, per the application. Tivis Branch Hydro said the project is essentially identical to that contemplated in the 2021 amended license. For this reason, the applicant proposes to forego the conventional three-stage consultation process and instead is filing directly for a final license application.

The project would be located at the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ John W. Flannagan Dam on the Pound River in Dickenson County. The dam was completed in 1964 as a flood-control structure. Tivis Branch Hydro said there are no affected landowners other than the U.S. federal government.

The proposed project would consist of four 360 kW turbine-generator units to be placed inside the Corps’ intake tower; a new 40-foot-long, 40-foot-wide operating space inside the intake tower; a new 300-foot-long conduit attached to the access bridge to the intake tower; a new 15-foot-long, 15-foot-wide substation pad including a 4.16/12.47-kV step-up transformer; a new 300-foot-long, 4.16-kV generator lead to the substation pad; a 30-foot-long, 12.47-kV transmission line connecting the substation pad to the existing 12.47-kV Appalachian Power Company’s distribution line; and appurtenant facilities.

The proposed project will be operated as a run-of-river facility and would have an estimated annual generation of 7,700 MWh.

Tivis Branch Hydro said construction of the project is planned to start within six months of receipt of a FERC license and USACE Section 408 permit and is planned to be completed within 30 months.