FirstEnergy seeks to sell interest in 3,003-MW Bath County pumped storage facility
A Form 8-K submitted to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission by FirstEnergy Corp. indicates FirstEnergy subsidiaries plan to negotiate for the sale of several generating assets, including the company’s interest in the 3,003-MW Bath County pumped storage facility.
The filing says FirstEnergy seeks a purchase price of $885 million for some of its assets and the company continues to explore “all alternatives for the remaining generation assets at [FirstEnergy Supply] and AE Supply, including, but not limited to, legislative efforts to convert generation from competitive operations to a regulated or regulated-like construct.”
Included in the offering are 13 plants (six natural gas, four coal and three nuclear) and the Bath facility. FirstEnergy President and Chief Operating Officer Charles Jones said some units could be closed if buyers are not found. Jones also said it is possible FirstEnergy could sell off all, or most, of its coal, nuclear, hydro, gas and oil plants that make up its FirstEnergy Supply unit.
Groups want Trump to weigh in on breaching Lower Snake River dams
Dozens of organizations and decision-makers that oppose breaching the Lower Snake River dams in Washington are urging that the incoming Trump Administration directly intervene and/or convene a “God Squad” committee to put an end to discussions about breaching them.
Federal judge Michael Simon recently ordered that a new environmental study be done after the federal government’s latest plan for protecting threatened and endangered salmon indicated that breaching Snake River dams did not need to be considered and would cost taxpayers at least $3 billion.
In addition to the valuable hydropower generation these four facilities provide, the Lower Snake River Dams provide irrigation for 60,000 acres of high-value irrigated crops. “If the dams were breached, the pump stations would not function,” stated Dr. Darryll Olsen, Board Representative for the Columbia-Snake River Irrigators Association. “The end result would be a substantial reduction in irrigated acres, which would have a huge negative impact on food processing and agriculture in the Pacific Northwest.”
Editor’s Note: This content was originally featured on GenerationHub.com, a sister site of HydroWorld.com.
FERC proposal could improve conditions for U.S. pumped-storage development
A Notice of Proposed Rulemaking issued by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission could help increase the role of pumped storage in the U.S. While independent system operators (ISO) and regional transmission organizations (RTO) have developed plans for integrating storage resources into their portfolios, the U.S. lacks a common framework for using storage and other aggregated distributed energy resources.
The proposal requires “each RTO and ISO to revise its tariff to establish a participation model consisting of market rules that, recognizing the physical and operational characteristics of electric storage resources, accommodates their participation in the organized wholesale electric markets.” The notice would “define distributed energy resource aggregators as a type of market participant that can participate in the organized wholesale electric markets under the participation model that best accommodates the physical and operational characteristics of its distributed energy resource aggregation.”
The second portion of the proposal would require each RTO and ISO to revise its tariff to allow distributed energy resource aggregators, including storage resources, to participate directly in organized wholesale electric markets. Each would be required to “establish distributed energy resource aggregators as a type of market participant and allow the distributed energy resource aggregators to register aggregations under the participation model in the RTO/ISO tariff that best accommodates the physical and operational characteristics of the distributed energy resource aggregation.”
This would address a problem in the current model, under which operators must register storage resources as other types of resources, potentially limiting compensation for the services they can offer.
Boralex closes financing for 16-MW Yellow Falls
Canadian developer Boralex Inc. has closed US$55.6 million in financing for the 16-MW Yellow Falls hydropower project on the Mattagami River near Smooth Rock Falls in Ontario, Canada.
Canada Life Insurance Co., Great West Life Insurance Co. and London Life Insurance Co. provided enough long-term financing to cover about 81% of the estimated 1.5 million to 5.4 million project cost.
Yellow Falls is a collaboration with the Taykwa Tagamou Nation and Mattagami First Nation, which have contractual rights to acquire an interest of up to 31.25% in the scheme. Boralex began construction work on the project in April and expects to commission the facility at the end of the second quarter of 2017.
The powerhouse will contain two 8-MW turbine-generator units. A spillway with three vertical-lift, fixed-roller gates and one set of stoplogs will be built adjacent to the powerhouse. The powerhouse will be flanked by two sections of dam – each about 15 meters high. A 39-year power purchase agreement is in place with Ontario’s Independent Electricity System Operator (IESO).
Enel starts operation of integrated geothermal-hydropower plant in Utah
Enel S.p.A., through subsidiary Enel Green Power North America Inc. (EGPNA), has begun operation of its Cove Fort geothermal-hydropower plant. EGPNA added fully submersible downhole generator technology to a geothermal injection well at Cove Fort in Utah. The facility began operation in 2013 with a capacity of 25 MW.
The initial testing phase, from July to September 2016, revealed that adding the hydro generator increased output by 1,008 MWh, offsetting the energy consumption of the Cove Fort plant by 8.8%.
The generator technology captures the energy of the water flowing back into the earth while also better controlling the flow of brine back into the ground, Enel says. The name of the company providing the technology was not disclosed.
“The operation of this technology, a world’s first, is a major milestone for the geothermal industry and a reinforcement of our commitment to innovation and energy efficiency,” said Francesco Venturini, head of Enel’s Global Renewable Energies. “We have once again discovered a more resourceful way to maximise plant operations and power generation with the aim of using this technology at our facilities around the world.”
Trump appoints Clean Power Plan opponent administrator of U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
U.S. President-elect Donald Trump appointed Scott Pruitt administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency in early December.
Pruitt, a Republican who served as attorney general for Oklahoma, was one of several state attorney generals who began preparing to battle the then-unannounced Clean Power Plan as early as 2014. Pruitt was among 28 other state attorney generals and hundreds of companies that would eventually file suit in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia in opposition of the plan.
Exactly what Pruitt’s tenure might ultimately mean for the EPA, and hydropower, remains to be seen.
Missouri River Energy seeks permit for 1,200-MW pumped storage project
Missouri River Energy Services applied Dec. 1 to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission for a preliminary permit, good for up to three years of feasibility work on the 1,200-MW Gregory County Pump Storage Project in South Dakota.
The upper reservoir will cover about 1,200 acres and be constructed by an earthen embankment levee with an average height of 62 feet. The reservoir will receive water from the existing Lake Francis Case reservoir created on the Missouri River by the Ft. Randall Dam. Water will be pumped to the upper reservoir by a reversible Francis turbine-pump unit connected to a reversible synchronous generator-motor located in an underground powerhouse. There will be a total of eight units. Four will share a common penstock about 6,000 feet long, meaning two penstocks will be constructed. It is anticipated the upper reservoir will be able to sustain enough water flow downhill for 26 hours of operation at 1,200 MW.
A preliminary permit allows the developer exclusivity on project development during the permit term.
Editor’s Note: This content was originally featured on GenerationHub.com, a sister site of HydroWorld.com.
Reclamation’s climate change adaptation strategy supports increasing water management flexibility
Bureau of Reclamation Commissioner Estevan Lopez has released a report that provides a status update on Reclamation’s actions to meet the challenges of climate change on Western water supplies. “Climate change poses clear risks to our ability to deliver water and power,” Lopez said. “In light of those risks, Reclamation and our partners will take key steps that line up with the goals of this strategy, helping to ensure a sustainable water supply across the West.”
The strategy identifies four goals to improve Reclamation’s ability to consider climate change information in its decision making: increase water management flexibility, enhance climate adaptation planning, improve infrastructure resiliency, and expand information sharing. Reclamation is making progress on the activities identified in the five goals:
- Five reservoir operation pilot studies are evaluating how weather, hydrology and climate change information can better inform reservoir operations;
- Hydropower optimizations could increase generation by 410,000 to 1.2 million MWh per year;
- Supporting integration of climate change information across planning activities through approaches developed in the basin studies and the drought response program;
- Providing nearly $1.2 million to cost-share seven wildfire resiliency projects through the Western Watershed Enhancement Program; and
- Offering climate change training courses for water resource professionals and for general audience on integrating climate change considerations into water resources planning.
The actions identified in the Climate Change Adaptation Strategy are part of the Department of the Interior’s implementation of former U.S. President Barack Obama’s Climate Action Plan.
Eagle Creek Renewable Energy acquires 19-MW Worumbo hydropower facility
Eagle Creek Renewable Energy LLC has acquired Brown Bear II Hydro Holdings LLC, which owns the 19-MW Worumbo run-of-river hydroelectric facility on the Androscoggin River in Lisbon Falls, Maine. A purchase price was not disclosed.
Eagle Creek said the facility supplies nearly 95 million kWh of clean, renewable energy in New England each year and it will operate and manage Worumbo. The facility will continue to supply energy under a power purchase agreement.
Bud Cherry, Eagle Creek chief executive officer, said, “We are extremely pleased to announce this substantial acquisition. It is an another important step in achieving our long-term growth plan of increasing the scale of Eagle Creek, providing strong risk-adjusted returns for our investors and creating significant value for all of our stakeholders. This addition to our portfolio solidifies our position on the Androscoggin River, and it positions Eagle Creek to continue the substantial annual growth and value creation we have achieved since our founding in 2010.”
