Duke Energy Receives Federal License for Nantahala Hydro Project
Feb. 17, 2012
FRANKLIN, N.C. -
Duke Energy has received the final of six new federal hydro licenses from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) for Nantahala Area hydro stations.
The latest license covers Nantahala Hydroelectric Project, located substantially in Macon County, N.C., but with waters also in Clay County.
The new 30-year license triggers a variety of public recreation and aquatic habitat enhancements in the Nantahala River watershed. Additionally, as part of a settlement agreement with relicensing stakeholders, in 2004 Duke Energy altered Nantahala Project operations to keep the lake higher during summer months, enhance downstream whitewater recreation, and help stabilize the lake level during fish spawning season.
The primary dam covered by the license is on the Nantahala River, forming 1605-acre Nantahala Lake. Two much smaller diversion dams, Dicks Creek and Diamond Valley, are on Dicks Creek, and Whiteoak Creek Dam is on its namesake creek.
“This final new license is a credit to all who worked together to develop comprehensive plans for balancing numerous water needs. We value their insight and are deeply grateful to their commitment to this effort,” said Steve Jester, vice president of hydro strategy, licensing and lake services. “From our initial review of the new license, it appears stakeholders' interests have been addressed, while preserving the area’s clean, renewable hydroelectric generation.”
“The relicensing process is good public policy. It allows an open, formal review of specific projects, rivers, public recreation needs and new scientific information so we can arrive at the appropriate balance among all interests,” Jester said.
With all the licenses now issued, Duke Energy is well under way with plans for recreational facilities and preparing other documents requiring FERC approval. Nantahala Project-specific items are likely to take about two to three years from start to finish.
Overall, Duke Energy is in the process of implementing numerous enhancements which will cost an estimated $10.5 million. These include:
Increased continuous minimum flow releases for the Nantahala and Tuckasegee Rivers, enhancing some of the most popular catch-and-release trout streams in the Southeast
Special flow releases on a few days each year for high-skill boating downstream from Nantahala and Glenville Dams
New or enhanced public access areas on the Nantahala and Tuckasegee Rivers
Transfer of about 150 acres of Duke Energy property upstream of Wolf Creek Lake to the U.S. Forest Service for enhanced public recreation and protection of native brook trout habitat
Canoe portages around dams at the Bryson (Oconaluftee River), Franklin (Little Tennessee River) and Mission Dams (Hiwassee River) and Western Carolina University-owned Cullowhee Dam (Tuckasegee River)
Primitive camping, handicapped-accessible docks, restrooms, improved parking and other improvements at larger lakes, including Nantahala
In addition to activities required in new licenses, Duke Energy and stakeholders from 30 organizations formed the Nantahala and Tuckasegee Cooperative Stakeholder Teams. Between 2000 and 2003, team members invested more than 9,000 person hours visiting sites, guiding study needs, reviewing reports and collaborating to address environmental concerns and public recreation needs.
The resulting Nantahala and Tuckasegee settlement agreements, signed in 2003, were keys to successfully relicensing the hydro stations.
In keeping with these legally-binding agreements, Duke Energy will implement settlement agreement provisions FERC did not include as new license requirements. These provisions include:
Transfer of about 150 acres of Duke Energy property upstream of Wolf Creek Lake to the U.S. Forest Service for enhanced public recreation and protection of native brook trout habitat
Improved Nantahala Gorge boating access, in cooperation with the U.S. Forest Service
Reimbursement of up to $50,000 for the Forest Service’s construction of primitive campsites
$40,000 to fund studies by the US Fish & Wildlife Service and the NC Wildlife Resources Commission to determine the range and distribution of the sicklefin redhorse
$40,000 for restoration of brook trout in a stream near the Tennessee Creek, a tributary of the Tuckasegee River
$200,000 for riparian habitat enhancement along Nantahala Area rivers
$40,000 each to Soil and Water Conservation Districts of Cherokee, Clay, Jackson, Macon, and Swain counties for the improvement of soil and water conservation programs
Thirty-year FERC operating licenses have now been issued for Nantahala area hydro projects that were initially licensed in 1980-81. These cover 12 hydro reservoirs and nine hydroelectric stations primarily in Clay, Jackson, Macon and Swain counties. Their combined installed generating capacity is about 98.5 megawatts. This is about 99.5 percent of the total Duke Energy hydro generation in the Nantahala Area.
The remainder is from Queens Creek Hydro Project in Macon County, which received its initial license in 1976 and was relicensed in 2002.
Project reservoirs are in Clay County (Mission Lake); Jackson County (Bear Creek, Cedar Cliff, Glenville, Tanasee Creek, Tuckasegee and Wolf Creek lakes); Macon County (Diamond Valley, Dicks Creek and Whiteoak Creek reservoirs, Lake Emory and Nantahala and Queens Creek Lakes); and Swain County (Lake Ela). A very small portion of Nantahala Lake is also in Clay County.
The initial FERC licenses were issued to Nantahala Power and Light Company, which Duke Power purchased from Alcoa in 1988. With the Nantahala Hydro Project license issued last week, all Nantahala Area hydro projects have completed their first relicensing process.
Duke Energy is one of the largest electric power holding companies in the United States. Its regulated utility operations serve approximately 4 million customers located in five states in the Southeast and Midwest, representing a population of approximately 12 million people. Its commercial power and international business segments own and operate diverse power generation assets in North America and Latin America, including a growing portfolio of renewable energy assets in the United States.
Headquartered in Charlotte, N.C., Duke Energy is a Fortune 500 company traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol DUK. More information about the company is available on the Internet at: www.duke-energy.com.
Showing posts with label federal. Show all posts
Showing posts with label federal. Show all posts
Tuesday, February 21, 2012
Friday, January 27, 2012
News release from the Congressional Budget Office:
January 25, 2012
Geothermal Production Expansion Act of 2011
As ordered reported by the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources on December 15, 2011
S. 1149 would authorize the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to award leases for certain federal lands on a noncompetitive basis for the development of geothermal resources. Based on information provided by BLM, the Department of Energy (DOE), and individuals working in the geothermal industry, CBO estimates that implementing the legislation would have no significant impact on the federal budget over the 2012-2022
period. Enacting S. 1149 could affect direct spending; therefore, pay-as-you-go procedures apply. However, CBO estimates that the net effect on direct spending would not be significant in any year. Enacting the legislation would not affect revenues.
S. 1149 would authorize BLM to offer noncompetitive leases of up to 640 acres for lands adjacent to known geothermal discoveries. Under the bill, a company that identified a geothermal resource that extended onto federal land adjacent to company-controlled lands could acquire the lease for a specified amount (bonus bid) determined by BLM to be equivalent to the fair market value rather than an amount determined through a competitive auction. In addition to paying fair market value for the parcel, the bill would require any company awarded such a noncompetitive lease to make annual rental payments equal to those required for lands that are leased competitively. Finally, a company could receive only one noncompetitive lease for each known geothermal discovery.
Under current law, 75 percent of all receipts from bonus bids, rents, and royalties related to the development of geothermal resources on federal lands is paid to the states and counties in which those lands are located. The remaining 25 percent is deposited in the U.S. Treasury. CBO estimates that awarding noncompetitive leases for lands adjacent to known geothermal discoveries could reduce bonus bids on those parcels; however, because the legislation would require the companies that are awarded those leases to pay fair market value for them, we estimate that implementing the bill would not reduce the amount of receipts deposited in the U.S. Treasury by more than $500,000 in any year. 2
In addition, based on information provided by DOE and individuals working in the geothermal industry, CBO expects that implementing S. 1149 could increase receipts from royalties paid on geothermal energy production by reducing the amount of time it takes to develop a known geothermal resource and by reducing the likelihood that lands containing geothermal resources would be acquired for speculative purposes. CBO estimates that any increase in the amount of royalty receipts that would be deposited in the U.S. Treasury
would not exceed $500,000 in any year. Those amounts would offset any reduction in receipts from issuing noncompetitive leases under the bill. Thus, CBO estimates that implementing S. 1149 would have no significant net impact on direct spending over the 2012-2022 period.
The bill contains no intergovernmental or private-sector mandates as defined in the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act and would impose no costs on state, local, or tribal governments.
The CBO staff contact for this estimate is Jeff LaFave. This estimate was approved by Theresa Gullo, Deputy Assistant Director for Budget Analysis.
CONGRESSIONAL BUDGET OFFICE
COST ESTIMATE
January 25, 2012
Geothermal Production Expansion Act of 2011
As ordered reported by the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources on December 15, 2011
S. 1149 would authorize the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to award leases for certain federal lands on a noncompetitive basis for the development of geothermal resources. Based on information provided by BLM, the Department of Energy (DOE), and individuals working in the geothermal industry, CBO estimates that implementing the legislation would have no significant impact on the federal budget over the 2012-2022
period. Enacting S. 1149 could affect direct spending; therefore, pay-as-you-go procedures apply. However, CBO estimates that the net effect on direct spending would not be significant in any year. Enacting the legislation would not affect revenues.
S. 1149 would authorize BLM to offer noncompetitive leases of up to 640 acres for lands adjacent to known geothermal discoveries. Under the bill, a company that identified a geothermal resource that extended onto federal land adjacent to company-controlled lands could acquire the lease for a specified amount (bonus bid) determined by BLM to be equivalent to the fair market value rather than an amount determined through a competitive auction. In addition to paying fair market value for the parcel, the bill would require any company awarded such a noncompetitive lease to make annual rental payments equal to those required for lands that are leased competitively. Finally, a company could receive only one noncompetitive lease for each known geothermal discovery.
Under current law, 75 percent of all receipts from bonus bids, rents, and royalties related to the development of geothermal resources on federal lands is paid to the states and counties in which those lands are located. The remaining 25 percent is deposited in the U.S. Treasury. CBO estimates that awarding noncompetitive leases for lands adjacent to known geothermal discoveries could reduce bonus bids on those parcels; however, because the legislation would require the companies that are awarded those leases to pay fair market value for them, we estimate that implementing the bill would not reduce the amount of receipts deposited in the U.S. Treasury by more than $500,000 in any year. 2
In addition, based on information provided by DOE and individuals working in the geothermal industry, CBO expects that implementing S. 1149 could increase receipts from royalties paid on geothermal energy production by reducing the amount of time it takes to develop a known geothermal resource and by reducing the likelihood that lands containing geothermal resources would be acquired for speculative purposes. CBO estimates that any increase in the amount of royalty receipts that would be deposited in the U.S. Treasury
would not exceed $500,000 in any year. Those amounts would offset any reduction in receipts from issuing noncompetitive leases under the bill. Thus, CBO estimates that implementing S. 1149 would have no significant net impact on direct spending over the 2012-2022 period.
The bill contains no intergovernmental or private-sector mandates as defined in the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act and would impose no costs on state, local, or tribal governments.
The CBO staff contact for this estimate is Jeff LaFave. This estimate was approved by Theresa Gullo, Deputy Assistant Director for Budget Analysis.
Sunday, January 15, 2012
EV Technology Accelerates in Colorado
From U.S. Dept. of Energy blog:
Arun Majumdar speaks at Idaho National Lab (INL) during a visit to the site earlier this week. | Photo courtesy of INL.
Arun Majumdar speaks at Idaho National Lab (INL) during a visit to the site earlier this week. | Photo courtesy of INL.
What does this mean for me?
- One of 48 advanced battery and electric drive projects across the country funded by Recovery Act.
- U.S. will have increased capacity to produce electric-drive vehicles batteries from virtually zero in 2008 up to 500,000 per year in 2015.
While the North American International Auto Show began this week in Detroit, ARPA-E Director Arun Majumadar is visiting another town on the cutting edge of vehicle R&D – Longmont, Colorado, home of UQM Technologies.
Beginning with their first all-composite, battery-electric passenger vehicle in the 1970s, the company has been in the electrification business for 35 years, and is no stranger to the benefits of government-industry partnerships.
Over the years, both the Energy Department and the federal government at large have successfully collaborated with UQM – which has received Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) awards from the Defense Department as far back as 1983 and received SBIR funding from Energy for eight different projects in electric motors and machines. In 2006, UQM received funding from EERE’s Vehicle Technologies Program via the FreedomCAR and Fuel Partnership to design an advanced permanent magnet motor for use in electric drive vehicles.
In 2009, following the success of the FreedomCAR project, UQM was awarded $45 million in Recovery Act funding to support the development of two types of Electric Vehicle (EV) systems: a propulsion/generator system for battery electric, hybrid, and plug-in hybrid passenger vehicles, and power assist motor/generators for parallel hybrid trucks and buses. As a result of this funding, UQM was able to build the Longmont, CO facility that Dr. Majumdar is visiting today. This site alone has the capacity to produce systems for 120,000 electric drive vehicles a year.
In keeping with emerging EV technologies, last year the Vehicles Technology Program also awarded $3 million to UQM to develop a non-rare-earth permanent magnet motor architecture, which will enable the use of low energy magnet technology. Engineering teams at several national labs will work with UQM’s engineers to develop the technology, which will support more affordable and efficient EV technologies and eliminate the need to utilize rare earth metals in these advanced engines.
It’s partnerships like this that are powering the commercialization of emerging EV technology. In fact, UQM’s recent agreement with Electric Vehicles International (EVI) and UPS to produce systems for 100 all-electric delivery vans is not only a great business success, but will be the largest deployment of a zero-tailpipe delivery fleet in California. As a National Clean Fleets Partner, UPS is a leader in reducing oil use in their fleet, and estimates that the use of these vehicles will displace 126,000 gallons of fuel a year that would have been burned running diesel trucks.
Partnerships like these across the private and public sectors are the kind of investments that are helping America win the clean energy race. Including UQM, the Recovery Act provided $2.4 billion in funding to 48 advanced battery and electric drive projects across the country, funding 30 new manufacturing plants like the one Dr. Majumdar is visiting today. Because of these investments, the U.S. will have increased our capacity to produce electric-drive vehicles batteries from virtually zero in 2008 up to 500,000 per year in 2015.
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