71350 Federal Register / Vol. 88, No. 198 / Monday, October 16, 2023 / Notices 

1All elevations are in mean sea level (msl). The 

conversion to North American Vertical Datum of 

1988 (NAVD 88) at the project is msl minus 8.07 

feet. 

Dated: October 10, 2023. 

Debbie-Anne A. Reese, 

Deputy Secretary. 

[FR Doc. 2023–22766 Filed 10–13–23; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 6717–01–P 

DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY 

Federal Energy Regulatory 

Commission 

[Project No. 1922–052] 

Ketchikan Public Utilities; Notice of 

Application Ready for Environmental 

Analysis and Soliciting Comments, 

Recommendations, Terms and 

Conditions, and Prescriptions 

Take notice that the following 

hydroelectric application has been filed 

with the Commission and is available 

for public inspection. 

a. Type of Application: Subsequent 

Minor License. 

b. Project No.: 1922–052. 

c. Date filed: October 27, 2022. 

d. Applicant: Ketchikan Public 

Utilities (KPU). 

e. Name of Project: Beaver Falls 

Hydroelectric Project (project). 

f. Location: On Beaver Falls Creek in 

Ketchikan Gateway Borough, Alaska. 

The project currently occupies 478.4 

acres of United States lands 

administered by U.S. Forest Service. 

g. Filed Pursuant to: Federal Power 

Act 16 U.S.C. 791(a)–825(r). 

h. Applicant Contact: Jennifer 

Holstrom, Senior Project Engineer, 

Ketchikan Public Utilities, 1065 Fair 

Street, Ketchikan, Alaska 99901; (907) 

228–4733; or email at jenniferh@ktnak.us. 

i. FERC Contact: Golbahar 

Mirhosseini at Golbahar.Mirhosseini@

ferc.gov. 

j. Deadline for filing comments, 

recommendations, terms and 

conditions, and prescriptions: 60 days 

from the issuance date of this notice; 

reply comments are due 105 days from 

the issuance date of this notice. 

The Commission strongly encourages 

electronic filing. Please file comments, 

recommendations, terms and 

conditions, and prescriptions using the 

Commission’s eFiling system at https:// 

ferconline.ferc.gov/FERCOnline.aspx. 

Commenters can submit brief comments 

up to 6,000 characters, without prior 

registration, using the eComment system 

at https://ferconline.ferc.gov/ 

QuickComment.aspx. You must include 

your name and contact information at 

the end of your comments. For 

assistance, please contact FERC Online 

Support at FERCOnlineSupport@

ferc.gov, (866) 208–3676 (toll free), or 

(202) 502–8659 (TTY). In lieu of 

electronic filing, you may submit a 

paper copy. Submissions sent via the 

U.S. Postal Service must be addressed 

to: Kimberly D. Bose, Secretary, Federal 

Energy Regulatory Commission, 888 

First Street NE, Room 1A, Washington, 

DC 20426. Submissions sent via any 

other carrier must be addressed to: 

Kimberly D. Bose, Secretary, Federal 

Energy Regulatory Commission, 12225 

Wilkins Avenue, Rockville, Maryland 

20852. All filings must clearly identify 

the project name and docket number on 

the first page: Beaver Falls Hydroelectric 

Project (P–1922–052). 

The Commission’s Rules of Practice 

require all intervenors filing documents 

with the Commission to serve a copy of 

that document on each person on the 

official service list for the project. 

Further, if an intervenor files comments 

or documents with the Commission 

relating to the merits of an issue that 

may affect the responsibilities of a 

particular resource agency, they must 

also serve a copy of the document on 

that resource agency. 

k. This application has been accepted 

and is now ready for environmental 

analysis. 

l. The existing Beaver Falls Project 

consists of two developments, Silvis 

and Beaver Falls. Beaver Falls Creek 

first flows into a 300-acre project 

reservoir known as Upper Silvis Lake 

which has approximately 38,000 acrefeet of gross storage capacity and 22,000 

acre-feet of usable capacity and is 

impounded by Upper Silvis Lake Dam, 

a 60-foot-high, 135-foot-long, 22-footwide concrete-face, rock-filled dam with 

a crest elevation of 1,164 feet msl.1

Water passes downstream of Upper 

Silvis Lake and dam via two primary 

methods: (1) via spill over a weir into 

an open channel that discharges to 

Lower Silvis Lake; or (2) via discharges 

through the Silvis Powerhouse into 

Lower Silvis Lake. Both the spillway 

weir and the intake to the power tunnel 

leading to Silvis powerhouse are located 

approximately 450 feet south and east of 

the dam. The Upper Silvis spillway 

consists of an ungated concreteencapsulated composite rockfill weir 

with a 54-foot-long and 16-foot high 

crest at an elevation of 1,154 feet that 

passes water into an 800-foot-long, 20- 

foot-wide, 8-foot-deep excavated rock 

spillway channel leading from Upper 

Silvis Lake to Lower Silvis Lake. The 

Upper Silvis intake consists of a 3-foot 

by 4-foot manually operated sluice gate 

approximately 200 feet downstream of 

the power tunnel entrance which is at 

an invert elevation of 1,050 msl. Water 

entering the intake passes through trash 

racks containing two rack bars 10-inches 

off center and spaced 30 feet apart and 

enters the 980-foot-long underground 

power tunnel connecting to a 375-footlong, 36-inch-diameter steel penstock 

that conveys water to a 30 feet by 40 feet 

by 25-feet-high Silvis powerhouse. The 

Silvis powerhouse contains a single 

Francis-type turbine with a rated 

capacity of 2.1 megawatts. Water exiting 

the Silvis powerhouse enters a 150-footlong trapezoidal shaped channel tailrace 

that discharges into Lower Silvis Lake. 

There is also a penstock bypass gate 

valve that can be used to bypass the 

powerhouse and discharge water from 

the penstock into the spillway channel 

that runs parallel to the penstock and a 

powerhouse bypass valve that allows 

water entering the powerhouse to 

bypass the turbine and discharge 

directly into Lower Silvis Lake. Power 

from the Silvis powerhouse is 

transmitted through a 2,900-foot-long, 5- 

kilovolt submarine cable beneath Lower 

Silvis Lake which connects to a 2,500 

Kilovolt-ampere (kVA), 34.5–4.16 kV 

transformer located near Lower Silvis 

Lake Dam. From the transformer, power 

is transmitted via a 7,000-foot-long, 

34.5- kilovolt aerial transmission line to 

the Beaver Falls substation/switchyard. 

Water passing downstream of Upper 

Silvis Lake enters a 67.5-acre project 

reservoir known as Lower Silvis Lake 

which begins the Beaver Falls 

development portion of the project. 

Lower Silvis Lake has a gross storage 

capacity of approximately 8,052 acrefeet and usable storage capacity of 1,600 

acre-feet and is impounded by Lower 

Silvis Dam which is a 32-foot-high, 140- 

foot-long concrete-face, rock-filled dam 

with a crest elevation of 835 feet. Water 

either spills over the Lower Silvis Dam 

and spillway into Beaver Falls Creek or 

enters the Lower Silvis intake structure 

and power tunnel system. A spillway 

composed of a reinforced concrete 

ungated control weir approximately 3- 

foot-high, 140-foot-long and 4-foot-wide 

with a crest elevation of 827 feet 

extends from the left abutment of Lower 

Silvis Lake Dam and discharges water 

into Beaver Falls Creek via a 50-footwide spillway discharge channel. 

Beaver Falls Creek then flows for 

approximately 0.66-miles to a 3-foothigh, 40-foot-long concrete Beaver Falls 

Creek Diversion Dam. At this point, 

water can either enter an intake leading 

to a penstock that supplies Unit 1 in the 

Beaver Falls powerhouse, or pass over 

the diversion dam spillway and flow an 


ddrumheller on DSK120RN23PROD with NOTICES1
Federal Register / Vol. 88, No. 198 / Monday, October 16, 2023 / Notices 71351 

2The 5 MW total capacity for the Beaver Falls 

Powerhouse consists of 1 MW generated from Unit 

1, 2 MW generated from Unit 3, and 2 MW 

generated from Unit 4. Unit 1 operates at a 

minimum hydraulic capacity of 7 cfs and maximum 

hydraulic capacity of 33 cfs. Unit 3 operates at a 

minimum hydraulic capacity of 8 cfs and a 

maximum hydraulic capacity of 55 cfs. Unit 4 

operates at a minimum hydraulic capacity of 9 cfs 

and a maximum hydraulic capacity of 56 cfs. 

Therefore, the minimum capacity of the Beaver 

Falls Powerhouse is 7 cfs while the combined 

maximum hydraulic capacity for the Beaver Falls 

powerhouse is 144 cfs. 

additional 0.85-mile before discharging 

into George Inlet. The Beaver Falls 

Diversion Dam intake consists of a steel 

settling box and concrete shelter house 

with angled trash racks 81-inches-wide 

with 1.25-inches clear bar spacing and 

a manually operated gate that leads to 

a 4,170-foot-long above ground steel 

penstock that conveys water from the 

Beaver Falls Creek diversion dam east to 

the Beaver Falls powerhouse and 

supplies Unit 1 in the powerhouse. 

Rather than spilling over the Lower 

Silvis Lake Dam and spillway into 

Beaver Falls Creek, water in Lower 

Silvis Lake can also enter an intake 

structure located south of the Lower 

Silvis Lake Dam. The intake contains a 

10-foot by 32-foot steel intake trash rack, 

with 0.25-inch by 2.5-inch deep bars 

spaced 1.75-inches apart. Water from 

the intake leads to a 3,800-foot-long 

underground power tunnel connecting 

to a 3,610-foot-long above ground steel 

penstock that supplies water to Units 3 

and 4 in the powerhouse. A 225-footlong, 20-inch-diameter ‘‘adit’’ (i.e., steel 

pipe) taps into the 3,800-foot-long 

underground power tunnel and can be 

used by KPU to divert up to 60 cfs of 

water from the power tunnel to 

supplement flow in Beaver Falls Creek. 

The adit discharges water into an open 

drainage ditch that runs along the Silvis 

Lakes Trail for approximately 550 feet 

and connects to an approximately 50- 

foot-long return culvert running under 

the trail that discharges water into 

Beaver Falls Creek just upstream of the 

Beaver Falls Diversion Dam described 

earlier. The project penstocks convey 

water to a 30 feet by 147 feet by 25-feethigh Beaver Falls powerhouse 

containing three horizontal Pelton 

generating units with a total installed 

capacity of 5 MW (Units 1, 3 and 4 are 

operational; Unit 2 is 

decommissioned).2 Water exiting the 

powerhouse enters a 60-foot-long open 

tailrace channel (Units 1 and 2 have 

separate tailrace channels each 9-feetwide while Units 3 and 4 have separate 

10-foot-wide channels which merge 30 

feet downstream of the powerhouse into 

a single 20-foot-wide channel). KPU 

states there are no transmission lines 

associated with the Beaver Falls 

powerhouse as the powerhouse 

interconnects to the adjacent Beaver 

Falls substation/switchyard, which is 

also serves as interconnection point for 

the Silvis transmission line described 

earlier. Between both powerhouses, the 

Beaver Falls Project generates an 

average of 45,877 megawatt-hours 

(MWh) annually. 

KPU operates the project in peaking 

mode utilizing a combination of river 

inflow and storage in the reservoirs to 

meet the power demands of the City of 

Ketchikan (particularly in the summer). 

Upper Silvis Lake provides the primary 

storage for the project. KPU proposes to 

continue operating the project in 

peaking mode with no new 

developments or modifications to its 

existing facilities or operation. KPU also 

proposes to remove 77 acres of land 

from the Beaver Falls project boundary 

to more closely align with the footprint 

of its facilities and maintenance needs. 

KPU’s proposed Beaver Falls project 

boundary would include 408.8 acres of 

land within Tongass National Forest, 

and approximately 14.2 acres of Federal 

lands subject to FPA Section 24, for a 

total of 423 acres. 

m. A copy of the application is 

available for review 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. At this time, the Commission 

has suspended access to the 

Commission’s Public Reference Room. 

For assistance, contact FERC at 

FERCOnlineSupport@ferc.gov or call 

toll free, (886) 208–3676 or TTY (202) 

502–8659. 

You may also register online at 

https://ferconline.ferc.gov/ 

FERCOnline.aspx to be notified via 

email of new filings and issuances 

related to this or other pending projects. 

For assistance, contact FERC Online 

Support. 

The Commission’s Office of Public 

Participation (OPP) supports meaningful 

public engagement and participation in 

Commission proceedings. OPP can help 

members of the public, including 

landowners, environmental justice 

communities, Tribal members and 

others, access publicly available 

information and navigate Commission 

processes. For public inquiries and 

assistance with making filings such as 

interventions, comments, or requests for 

rehearing, the public is encouraged to 

contact OPP at (202) 502–6595 or OPP@

ferc.gov. 

All filings must (1) bear in all capital 

letters the title ‘‘COMMENTS,’’ ‘‘REPLY 

COMMENTS,’’ 

‘‘RECOMMENDATIONS,’’ ‘‘TERMS 

AND CONDITIONS,’’ or 

‘‘PRESCRIPTIONS;’’ (2) set forth in the 

heading the name of the applicant and 

the project number of the application to 

which the filing responds; (3) furnish 

the name, address, and telephone 

number of the person submitting the 

filing; and (4) otherwise comply with 

the requirements of 18 CFR 385.2001 

through 385.2005. All comments, 

recommendations, terms and conditions 

or prescriptions must set forth their 

evidentiary basis and otherwise comply 

with the requirements of 18 CFR 4.34(b). 

Agencies may obtain copies of the 

application directly from the applicant. 

Each filing must be accompanied by 

proof of service on all persons listed on 

the service list prepared by the 

Commission in this proceeding, in 

accordance with 18 CFR 4.34(b) and 

385.2010. 

n. The applicant must file no later 

than 60 days following the date of 

issuance of this notice: (1) a copy of the 

water quality certification; (2) a copy of 

the request for certification, including 

proof of the date on which the certifying 

agency received the request; or (3) 

evidence of waiver of water quality 

certification. Please note that the 

certification request must comply with 

40 CFR 121.5(b), including 

documentation that a pre-filing meeting 

request was submitted to the certifying 

authority at least 30 days prior to 

submitting the certification request. 

Please also note that the certification 

request must be sent to the certifying 

authority and to the Commission 

concurrently. 

o. Procedural schedule: The 

application will be processed according 

to the following schedule. Revisions to 

the schedule will be made as 

appropriate. 

Milestone Target 

date 

Deadline for Filing Comments, 

Recommendations, and Agency Terms and Conditions/Prescriptions.

December 

2023. 

Licensee’s Reply to REA Comments.January 

2024. 

p. Final amendments to the 

application must be filed with the 

Commission no later than 30 days from 

the issuance date of this notice. 

Dated: October 10, 2023. 

Kimberly D. Bose, 

Secretary. 

[FR Doc. 2023–22757 Filed 10–13–23; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 6717–01–P 


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