LIHI Pending Application [ON HOLD]- Greenup Hydroelectric Project (FERC No. 2614) Ohio River, Kentucky and Ohio

Portland, Maine (October 30, 2008) – The Low Impact Hydropower Institute (LIHI) announced today that the City of Hamilton, Ohio, has submitted an application for certification of the Greenup hydroelectric project as a Low Impact facility. The project is located on the Ohio River in Greenup County, Kentucky, and Scioto County, Ohio.

PROJECT SUMMARY

· Facility location: Ohio River in Kentucky and Ohio

· Installed capacity: 70.56 MW

· Average annual generation: 267 gigawatt hours

· Year FERC license issued: March 29, 1976

· Applicant: City of Hamilton, Ohio

· Applicant contact: Michael R. Perry, Director Electric Department

· Date application will be posted to website: October 30, 2008

· Date public comment period on application closes: December 30, 2008

The Greenup Hydroelectric facility is located on the right (east/Ohio) bank of the Ohio River at the Greenup Locks (normal lift 30 feet) and Dam (damming height 35 feet above sills) in Greenup County, Kentucky, and Scioto County, Ohio. The Greenup Locks and Dam are located approximately six miles upstream of Wheelersburg, Ohio, and 5 miles downstream of Greenup, Kentucky.

The Greenup Locks and Dam are managed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Corps). The Greenup Locks and Dam replaced locks and dams nos. 27, 28, 29, and 30 on the Ohio River; and no. 1 on the Big Sandy River. Construction of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Greenup Locks and Dam began in October 1954. The locks were initiated in October 1955 and were placed in operation on November 27, 1959. Construction of the dam began in June 1958 and the pool was raised to full height on June 4, 1962. At the normal elevation of 515 feet above MSL, the Greenup Pool is approximately 62 miles long (extending upstream to the base of the Corps\' Gallipolis Locks and Dam)

The 70.56 MW Greenup hydroelectric facility, originally licensed to the City of Vanceburg, Kentucky, by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) in 1976, was completed and placed in commercial operation on December 7, 1982. The FERC License was transferred to the City of Hamilton, Ohio, in 1988. The FERC License expires on February 28, 2026.

The Greenup hydroelectric facility includes a watertight, steel-plate enclosure. The enclosure was constructed in dry dock at St. Nazaire, France, by a ship building division of Alstom, shipped across the Atlantic Ocean, and towed to the site via the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers. The facility consists of three submerged, bulb-type, Kaplan generating units; an intake canal; a tailrace canal; recreational facilities; a transmission line; and appurtenant structures.

The run-of-river hydroelectric facility is operated in close cooperation with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

PUBLIC COMMENT

We encourage public comments on this application. Specifically, we are interested in knowing whether you think the Greenup Project meets our LIHI criteria. Review the program and criteria in greater detail and then review the Greenup Project application. Comments that are directly tied to specific LIHI criteria (flows, water quality, fish passage, etc) will be most helpful, but all comments will be considered.

Comments may be submitted to the Institute by e-mail (preferred) at info@lowimpacthydro.org with \"Greenup Project comments\" in the subject line; by fax at (206) – 984-3086; or by mail addressed to LIHI, 34 Providence Street, Portland, ME, 04103. Comments must be received at the Institute on or before 5 pm Eastern time on Monday, December 30, 2008 to be considered.

All comments will be posted to the web site and the applicant will have an opportunity to respond. Any response will also be posted.

For further information about the Greenup Hydroelectric Project, or any of the other projects certified as Low Impact, please contact Fred Ayer, LIHI Executive Director at (207) 773-8190, or visit the LIHI website at www.lowimpacthydro.org. LIHI is a nonprofit organization that certifies environmentally low impact hydropower facilities nationwide to help energy consumers, and to support market incentives for reducing the effects of hydropower dams on the nation\'s rivers and streams.

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