FERC takes applications for four projects, approves two exemptions

WASHINGTON 12/6/11 (PennWell) — The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission received applications in October for three hydroelectric projects totaling 7.3 MW and approved conduit exemptions for two small projects in Oregon totaling 135 kW.

The Energy Infrastructure Update for October 2011, compiled by FERC’s Office of Energy Projects, showed the agency received hydro license applications for two projects.

Shelbyville Hydro LLC, a subsidiary of Symbiotics LLC, applied to license the proposed 6.8-MW Lake Shelbyville Dam project (No. 13011) on Illinois’ Kaskaskia River at a dam operated by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Western Technical College also filed a license application, for the 205-kW Angelo Dam project (No. 13417), to be built on Wisconsin’s LaCrosse River at an existing dam owned by Monroe County, Wis.

The commission also received an application from Carbon Zero LLC for a 5-MW (maximum) exemption from licensing for the proposed 349-kW Vermont Tissue Mill project (No. 14308) to be built at the existing Vermont Tissue Mill Dam on the Walloomsac River in Bennington, Vt. FERC also received an application for a capacity amendment to an existing project totaling 5.075 MW.

FERC issued conduit exemptions to two projects:
o Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, 85-kW Oak Springs (No. 14235) at Oak Springs Fish Hatchery, Wasco County, Ore.,; and
o City of Gresham, Ore., 50-kW Wastewater Treatment Plant Outfall (No. 13466), discharging into the Columbia River, Multnomah County, Ore.

FERC, which previously used the infrastructure update as an in-house tool, began making the monthly update public beginning with December 2010. The report allows the public to track the activities of the Office of Energy Projects in the areas of hydropower, natural gas, electric generation, and electric transmission.

The Office of Energy Projects’ Energy Infrastructure Update for October 2011 may be obtained from the FERC Internet site under http://www.ferc.gov/legal/staff-reports/11-14-11-energy-infrastructure.pdf.