Document ID: FERC-2023-0432-0001
Agency: ferc
Document Type: Notice
Title: Application: Heard County Pumped Storage Project
Posted Date: 2023-04-07T04:00Z

[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 67 (Friday, April 7, 2023)]
[Notices]
[Pages 20874-20875]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2023-07391]

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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission

[Project No. 15300-000]

Heard County Pumped Storage Project; Notice of Preliminary Permit 
Application Accepted for Filing and Soliciting Comments, Motions To 
Intervene, and Competing Applications

    On January 31, 2023, BOST1 Hydroelectric, LLC., filed an 
application for a preliminary permit, pursuant to section 4(f) of the 
Federal Power Act (FPA), proposing to study the feasibility of a pumped 
storage hydropower project located near the City of Enon Grove, Heard 
County, Georgia. The sole purpose of a preliminary permit, if issued, 
is to grant the permit holder priority to file a license application 
during the permit term. A preliminary permit does not authorize the 
permit holder to perform any land-disturbing activities or otherwise 
enter upon lands or waters owned by others without the owners' express 
permission.
    The proposed Heard County Pumped Storage Project would consist of 
the following: (1) a 20-foot-long, 30-foot-deep reinforced concrete 
intake structure with trash racks, and a pumping station on Hilly Mill 
Creek; (2) a 24-inch-diameter fill pipeline to the upper reservoir; (3) 
a geotextile lined rock filled embankment forming an enclosed upper 
reservoir; (4) a 66-foot-deep enclosed upper reservoir with a storage 
capacity of 5,300 acre-feet; (5) a lower underground reservoir 
consisting of concentric circular tunnels reaching a depth of 2,100 
feet below the surface, with the total length of the tunnels being 
170,000 feet; (6) a reinforced morning glory type water intake situated 
within the upper reservoir with an outer diameter of 95 feet and an 
inside diameter of 38 feet; (7) a 23-foot-diameter, 2,300-foot-long 
granite bedrock vertical tunnel trifurcating into three 10-foot-
diameter steel lined penstocks leading to three reversible Francis pump 
turbines; (8) a 460-foot-long, 80-foot-wide, 160-foot-high powerhouse, 
200 feet below the lower reservoir containing the three pump turbine 
units with a total installed capacity of 1,000 megawatts; (9) a 
separate 60-foot-wide, 410-foot-long, 160-foot-high underground 
transformer gallery near the powerhouse; and (10) a 1-mile-long, 500 
kilovolt transmission line east of the proposed upper reservoir. The 
lower reservoir tunneling would be accomplished using two 42.5-foot-
diameter tunnel boring machines with an access ramp of the same size 
from the surface. The powerhouse would be excavated using traditional 
drill and blast methods. The proposed project would have an estimated 
annual generation of 2,628,000 megawatt-hours.
    Applicant Contact: Douglas Spaulding, Nelson Energy, 8441 Wayzata 
Blvd., Suite 101, Golden Valley, MN 55426; phone: (952) 544-8133.
    FERC Contact: Michael Spencer; phone: (202) 502-6093, or by email 
at [email protected].
    Deadline for filing comments, motions to intervene, competing 
applications (without notices of intent), or notices of intent to file 
competing applications: 60 days from the issuance of this notice. 
Competing applications and notices of intent must meet the requirements 
of 18 CFR 4.36.
    The Commission strongly encourages electronic filing. Please file 
comments, motions to intervene, notices of intent, and competing 
applications using the Commission's eFiling system at https://ferconline.ferc.gov/eFiling.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 
[email protected], (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. The first page of any filing should include docket 
number P-15300-000.
    More information about this project, including a copy of the 
application, can be viewed or printed on the ``eLibrary'' link of the 
Commission's website at

[[Page 20875]]

https://elibrary.ferc.gov/eLibrary/search. Enter the docket number (P-
15300) in the docket number field to access the document. For 
assistance, contact FERC Online Support.

    Dated: April 3, 2023.
Kimberly D. Bose,
Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2023-07391 Filed 4-6-23; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6717-01-P