Seattle City Light has submitted a draft license application (DLA) to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) for its Skagit River Hydroelectric Project.
The utility said this is an important, and required, milestone in the process of relicensing this project and a testament to City Light’s continued collaboration with Tribes, Canadian First Nations, federal and state agencies, and other licensing participants.
The 711 MW Skagit River Hydroelectric Project is a series of three dams and hydro powerhouses that provide 20% of City Light’s power. The three power-generating facilities are Ross, Diablo and Gorge. The operational priorities in order of importance are flood control, downstream fish protection, recreation and power production. The current FERC license for the project expires in 2025.
The DLA is not comprehensive of all the issues related to the City Light’s dams and hydropower projects, but it has important information about the project, including why the Skagit River Hydroelectric Project should be relicensed, how the project is managed, what the power generated by the project is used for, what it costs and related issues.
Hydropower is essential to providing Seattle with clean energy. The license and other partner agreements will show how City Light is managing the watershed ecosystem as a whole and how City Light manages issues like flood management, impacts on fish and wildlife, recreational opportunities, education, cultural resources, and harvests for Tribes, according to a release.
The draft includes a detailed environmental analysis. Licensing participants have worked with City Light to develop the proposed protection, mitigation and enhancement measures included in the DLA.
City Light said it will continue engaging with partners and using FERC-approved studies to further develop the final license application (FLA). The FLA is on track to be submitted in April 2023.
Seattle City Light is one of the largest community-owned electric utilities in the U.S. City Light serves more than 900,000 people across Seattle and parts of eight adjacent franchise cities. City Light’s hydroelectric projects on the Skagit and Pend Oreille rivers provide about half of the power customers need. The company’s power mix in 2016 was 88% hydro.
