LIHI Certificate #63 - (FERC No. 2616) School Street Project, Mohawk River New York

Portland, Maine (November 29, 2010) - At their November 16, 2010 meeting the Institute’s Governing Board determined that the School Street Hydroelectric Project meets the LIHI Certification Criteria.  An original LIHI certificate will be forwarded to you once the Governing Board Chair and Secretary have executed it. 
In reaching its decision to certify the School Street Hydroelectric Project, the Low Impact  Hydropower Institute’s Governing Board reviewed the application for certification, as well as the Application Reviewer’s report.  The Board’s vote to certify the School Street Hydroelectric Project was unanimous and included the following non-standard conditions: 
(1) Brookfield be required to submit to LIHI the results of the effectiveness testing required under the license and settlement agreement at the same time as such information is being submitted to resource agencies, 
(2) Any submittal include a statement from Brookfield that discusses how the effectiveness testing results demonstrate that downstream migrating fish are being safely passed, and 
(3) Brookfield submit to LIHI any comments prepared by resource agencies on their review of this effectiveness testing. 
LIHI will retain the right to suspend the certification or take other appropriate action should this testing and analysis thereof demonstrate that safe downstream passage is not occurring. 

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Portland, Maine (November 20, 2009) – The Low Impact Hydropower Institute (LIHI) announced today that Erie Boulevard Hydro, L.P. ("Applicant") has submitted an application for certification of the School Street Hydroelectric Project ("School Street" or "Project") which is located on the Mohawk River in Albany and Saratoga Counties, New York, and does not occupy any federal lands.

January 14, 2010 - LIHI received comments on this application from Frances E. Francis, Spiegel & McDiarmid, LLP on behalf of Green Island Power Authority (GIPA) consisting of a letter to LIHI and a copy of the August 10, 2009 decision of the US Court of Appeals.

January 16, 2010 - LIHI received email comments on the School Street project certification application from Walter Lipka

January 22, 2010 - LIHI received comments on the School St. Project certification application from the City of Cohoes

January 24, 2010 - LIHI response to Frances Francis' January 14, 2010 letter on behalf of Green Island Power Authority (GIPA) . The letter also extends the Public Comment period to February 26, 2010.

February 12, 2010 - LIHI received responses to comments from Brookfield Renewable Power.

February 21, 2010 - LIHI received comments on the School St. Project certification application from the Friends of the Falls

March 4, 2010 - LIHI received comments on the School St. Project certification application from Frances Francis, Speigel & McDiarmid (these comments consist of a letter and attachments "Appendix.pdf")

Links to each document are found at the end of this page under the "Files" section.

Project Description

The School Street Project includes a 1,280-foot-long, 16-foot-high masonry gravity overflow-type dam that impounds a 100-acre reservoir with a normal maximum water surface elevation of 156.1 feet U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) datum, and an adjacent 375-foot-long, 18-foot-high ice fender. The 206-foot-long upper gatehouse, with nine timber slide gates and three steel Taintor gates, controls flows to a 4,400-foot- long, 150-foot-wide power canal located along the west bank of the river, conveying water to a 152-foot-long lower gatehouse with five steel headgates equipped with 3.1- inch clear bar spaced trashracks, leading to five 190-foot-long penstocks, four 11-foot- diameter, and one 13-foot-diameter, which in turn lead to a powerhouse containing five generating units with a total installed capacity of 38,800 kilowatts (kW). Project power is transmitted to the regional grid by six 350-foot-long transmission lines. The power canal, penstocks, and powerhouse bypass a reach of the Mohawk River that is over 4,500 feet long and includes Cohoes Falls, a 65-foot natural waterfall.

The School Street Project dam was constructed in 1831. Electric power generation commenced in 1916, and additional generating units were added in 1922 and 1925. The 16-foot-high dam, located about 4,000 feet above Cohoes Falls, impounds a 100 acre reservoir. Water is diverted at the dam to a power canal, through which it is conveyed to a powerhouse just below Cohoes Falls, and then is returned to the Mohawk River. The FERC issued an original license for the project to Niagara Mohawk on June 11, 1969, with a term expiring on December 31, 1993. The licensing process for the School Street plant has spanned many years. Niagara Mohawk, one of the previous owners of the plant, originally applied for a new license back in 1991. Green Island Power Authority ("GIPA") did not seek to intervene in the process until 2004, which FERC later ruled was too late.

GIPA, which operates a seven-megawatt hydro plant in the Village of Green Island, has been trying for years to build a 100-megawatt hydro plant on the Mohawk River, just above the historic falls. Those plans were dealt a serious blow two years ago when the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission ("FERC") granted, Brookfield Renewable Energy, a 40-year license on the School Street Project which is located at the bottom of the falls. During the relicensing process, GIPA had been trying to get FERC to consider its own plan, which has an estimated price tag of $75 million, as an alternative to the Brookfield plant. The August 2009 decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit overturned FERC's 2007 order granting Brookfield a new license. The court sent the case back to the Commission to reconsider, arguing that the FERC "abused its discretion" by shutting GIPA out of the process.

Since the 2009 court decision, the Applicant who has already spent millions of dollars building new park areas with views and historical interpretations of the Cohoes Falls said it is moving forward with plans to expand the School Street Project as part of the requirements of its FERC license. Brookfield has also dredged a power canal that diverts water around the falls to the powerhouse.

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Files: