April 13, 2009 - Pawtucket Hydro Project Files for by LIHI Re-Certification
Pawtucket Project was certified for 5-year term in 2004 and is Rhode Island's only LIHI certified Hydro Project
PORTLAND, ME – (April 10, 2009)—The Low Impact Hydropower Institute (LIHI) announced that Pawtucket Hydropower, LLC has filed an applications to re-certify its Pawtucket Hydroelectric Project as low impact. The Project is located on the Blackstone River, Rhode Island. The 1.3 megawatt facility is owned and operated by Pawtucket Hydropower, LLC, and licensed by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). The Pawtucket Project consists of “(1) a brick and timber dam, about 200 feet long and 4 feet high, constructed at the top of waterfalls about 13 feet high; (2) a reservoir of negligible storage…; (3) an intake structure and brick-lined underground tunnel (penstock) 17.5 feet in diameter and 130 feet long; (4) a brick and granite hydroelectric station building…and a tailrace, 90 feet long and 45 feet wide…” In conjunction with FERC’s issuance of the 1981 license exemption to the project’s previous owner, Blackstone Valley Electric Company, waterwheels and generators were replaced with turbines. Today the project operates two 1.9 meter full Kaplan turbines with total installed capacity of 1,300 kilowatts and average annual generation of 4,000 megawatt hours. The facility operates in run-of-river mode, with a small impoundment of approximately 1 acre in surface and 2 acre-feet in volume; the facility inundates less than 1/2 acre. Non-reservoir facilities occupy 1/2 acre. Blackstone Valley Electric Company transferred facility ownership to the applicant in 1999.
The certification of the Pawtucket Project facility is valid for five years and will expire on April 23, 2009.
SUMMARY
Facility location: Blackstone River, Pawtucket, Rhode Island
Installed capacity: 1.3 MW
Average annual generation: 4 gigawatt hours
FERC exemption: issued: 1981
Applicant: Pawtucket Hydropower, LLC
Applicant contact: Charles Rosenfield, (860) 928-7100
Date application posted to website: April 13, 2009
Date public comment period closes: June 13, 2004
Date certification expires: April 23, 2009
PUBLIC COMMENT
The public comment period for the Pawtucket Project runs from April 13, 2009 to June 13, 2009. For more details on the public comment period click on "Pending Applications" and go to the Pawtucket Project link.