[Federal Register Volume 85, Number 98 (Wednesday, May 20, 2020)]
[Notices]
[Pages 30694-30695]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2020-10843]
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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission
[Project No. 3472-024]
Aspinook Hydro, LLC; Notice of Application Tendered for Filing
With the Commission and Soliciting Additional Study Requests and
Establishing Procedural Schedule for Relicensing and a Deadline for
Submission of Final Amendments
Take notice that the following hydroelectric application has been
filed with the Commission and is available for public inspection.
a. Type of Application: New Major License.
b. Project No.: P-3472-024.
c. Date filed: April 30, 2020.
d. Applicant: Aspinook Hydro, LLC.
e. Name of Project: Wyre Wynd Hydroelectric Project.
f. Location: On the Quinebaug River in New London and Windham
Counties, Connecticut. No federal lands are occupied by the project
works or located within the project boundary.
g. Filed Pursuant to: Federal Power Act 16 U.S.C. 791(a)-825(r).
h. Applicant Contact: Mark Boumansour, Chief Operating Officer,
Gravity Renewables, Inc., 1401 Walnut Street, Boulder, CO 80302; Phone
at (303) 440-3378, or email at [email protected].
i. FERC Contact: Dr. Nicholas Palso at (202) 502-8854, or
[email protected].
j. Cooperating agencies: Federal, state, local, and tribal agencies
with jurisdiction and/or special expertise with respect to
environmental issues that wish to cooperate in the preparation of the
environmental document should follow the instructions for filing such
requests described in item l below. Cooperating agencies should note
the Commission's policy that agencies that cooperate in the preparation
of the environmental document cannot also intervene. See 94 FERC ]
61,076 (2001).
k. Pursuant to section 4.32(b)(7) of 18 CFR of the Commission's
regulations, if any resource agency, Indian Tribe, or person believes
that an additional
[[Page 30695]]
scientific study should be conducted in order to form an adequate
factual basis for a complete analysis of the application on its merit,
the resource agency, Indian Tribe, or person must file a request for a
study with the Commission not later than 70 days from the date of
filing of the application, and serve a copy of the request on the
applicant.
l. Deadline for filing additional study requests and requests for
cooperating agency status: July 9, 2020.
The Commission strongly encourages electronic filing. Please file
additional study requests and requests for cooperating agency status
using the Commission's eFiling system at http://www.ferc.gov/docs-filing/efiling.asp. For assistance, please contact FERC Online Support
at [email protected], (866) 208-3676 (toll free), or (202)
502-8659 (TTY).
m. The application is not ready for environmental analysis at this
time.
n. Project Description: The existing Wyre Wynd Hydroelectric
Project consists of: (1) A concrete-encased masonry dam that includes
the following sections: (a) A 473-foot-long, 19-foot-high spillway
section with a crest elevation of 95.3 feet National Geodetic Vertical
Datum of 1929 (NGVD) and 2-foot-high flashboards at an elevation of
97.3 feet NGVD at the top of the flashboards; (b) a left abutment
section; and (c) a right abutment section; (2) a 333-acre impoundment
with a normal elevation of 97.3 feet NGVD; (3) a 100-foot-long, 25-
foot-wide headgate structure with five 10.5-foot-wide, 11.5-foot-high
sluice gates; (4) a 170-foot-long, 50-foot-wide forebay with five 13-
foot-high, 9.5-foot-wide flood gates, a 110-foot-long overflow weir,
and two 13-foot-high, 9.5-foot-wide low-level outlet gates; (5) a
powerhouse intake structure located at the downstream end of the
forebay that includes: (a) A 38.2-foot-long, 20- to 21.3- foot-wide
trashrack with 2.6-inch clear-bar spacing; (b) a 16-foot-long, 12-foot-
diameter steel penstock that provides flow to a 2.7-megawatt (MW) S-
type Kaplan turbine-generator unit located inside of a 75-foot-long,
30-foot-wide concrete powerhouse; and (c) a 450-foot-long, 60-foot-wide
tailrace; (6) a minimum flow unit intake structure that branches off of
the right side of forebay approximately 35 feet downstream of the
headgate structure, and that includes: (a) A 20-foot-long, 9-foot-wide
trashrack with 1.5-inch clear-bar spacing; (b) a 40-foot-long, 4-foot-
diameter steel penstock that provides flow to a 0.08-megawatt (MW)
propeller-type turbine-generator unit located outside; and (c) a 10-
foot-long, 30-foot-wide tailrace; (7) two generator leads connecting
the turbine-generator units to the local electric distribution system;
and (8) appurtenant facilities. The project creates an approximately
400-foot-long bypassed reach of the Quinebaug River.
The current license requires an instantaneous minimum flow of 120
cubic feet per second (cfs), or the inflow, whichever is less,
downstream of the dam to protect fish and wildlife resources in the
Quinebaug River.
The project had an average annual generation production of
approximately 11,000,000 kilowatt-hours from 2003 through 2015.
Aspinook proposes to: (1) Operate the project in run-of-river mode;
(2) provide an 84-cfs minimum flow to the bypassed reach; and (3)
provide upstream and downstream fish passage.
o. In addition to publishing the full text of this notice in the
Federal Register, the Commission provides all interested persons an
opportunity to view and/or print the contents of this notice, as well
as other documents in the proceeding (e.g., license application) via
the internet through the Commission's Home Page (http://www.ferc.gov)
using the ``eLibrary'' link. Enter the docket number excluding the last
three digits in the docket number field to access the document (P-
3472). At this time, the Commission has suspended access to the
Commission's Public Reference Room due to the proclamation declaring a
National Emergency concerning the Novel Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19),
issued by the President on March 13, 2020. For assistance, contact FERC
at [email protected] or call toll-free, (866) 208-3676 or
(202) 502-8659 (TTY).
You may also register online at http://www.ferc.gov/docs-filing/esubscription.asp to be notified via email of new filings and issuances
related to this or other pending projects. For assistance, contact FERC
Online Support.
p. Procedural schedule and final amendments: The application will
be processed according to the following preliminary schedule. Revisions
to the schedule will be made as appropriate.
Issue Deficiency Letter (if necessary)--July 2020
Request Additional Information--July 2020
Issue Acceptance Letter--October 2020
Issue Scoping Document 1 for comments--November 2020
Request Additional Information (if necessary)--January 2021
Issue Scoping Document 2--February 2021
Issue Notice of Ready for Environmental Analysis--February 2021
Commission issues Environmental Assessment--August 2021
Final amendments to the application must be filed with the
Commission no later than 30 days from the issuance date of the notice
of ready for environmental analysis.
Dated: May 14, 2020.
Kimberly D. Bose,
Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2020-10843 Filed 5-19-20; 8:45 am]
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