The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has issued a preliminary permit to Southeast Oklahoma Power Corporation to study the feasibility of the proposed 1,200-MW Southeast Oklahoma Pumped Storage Hydroelectric Project.
The facility would be located on the Kiamichi River near Whitesboro in LeFlore County, Oklahoma.
Project facilities would consist of:
- 2,165-foot-long, 302-foot-high concrete-faced rockfill upper dam with a 196.85-foot-long emergency spillway with a 600-foot-long, 30-foot-wide channel;
- Upper reservoir with a surface area of 488.52 acres and a storage capacity of 43,633 acre-feet;
- 98.4-foot-long, 39.4-foot-high concrete upper intake/outlet structure;
- 6,370-foot-long, 27.8-foot-diameter steel and concrete headrace tunnel;
- 545-foot-long, 90-foot-wide, 185.4-foot-high underground concrete pumping station/powerhouse containing four pump/generating units with a total capacity of 1,200 MW;
- 7,439-foot-long, 27.8-foot-diameter tailrace tunnel;
- 98.4-foot-long, 39.4-foot-high concrete lower intake/outlet structure;
- 9,957-foot-long, 52.5-foot-high earthen lower dam with a 33-foot-long, 13-foot-high emergency spillway with a 1,640-foot-long tunnel to the Kiamichi River;
- Lower reservoir with a surface area of 727 acres, and a storage capacity of 37,965 acre-feet;
- Two 20-inch-diameter, 675-foot-long pipes with 110 kilowatt pumps from the lower reservoir to the regulating reservoir;
- Regulating reservoir with a surface area of 40 acres, and a storage capacity of 1,216 acre-feet;
- Two 20-inch-diameter, 690-foot-long pipes with two 110 kilowatt pumps from the Kiamichi River to the regulating reservoir;
- 40-foot-long, 40-foot-wide funnel shaped intake structure on the Kiamichi River, located 1.5 feet above the bottom of the Kiamichi River tapering down to a 10-foot-long, 10-foot-wide section where it connects to the two pipes; and
- 124-mile-long transmission line to the Electric Reliability Council of Texas grid.
The purpose of a preliminary permit is to study the feasibility of the project, including studying potential impacts.
The permit for this project was effective March 1, 2019, and ends either 48 months from the effective date or on the date that a development application submitted by the permittee has been accepted for filing, whichever occurs first.
