A & D Hydro Files Re-Certification for their West Springfield Project (FERC No. 2608) on the Westfield River, Massachusetts
Portland, Maine (November 29, 2010) LIHI is pleased to announce thatA&D Hydro, Inc. has submitted an application for Re-Certification of its West Springfield Hydroelectric Project on the Westfield River in West Springfield and Agawam, Massachusetts. In filing for re-certification, the Applicant states that in regards to the West Springfield Project there has been no change in conditions relevant to the certification.
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Portland, Maine (December 2005) The LIHI's Governing Board announced that at their December 8, 2005 meeting they determined that the West Springfield Project, FERC No. 2608, meets the Low Impact Hydropower Certification Criteria.
The Board's vote to certify the West Springfield Project as a Low Impact facility was unanimous. There were no public comments on the application. As a result, we are able to issue the certification effective August 29, 2005.
The certification of the West Springfield facility is valid for five years and will expire on August 29, 2010.
SUMMARY
Facility location: On the Westfield River in West Springfield & Agawam, MA
Installed capacity: 1.4 MW
Average annual generation: 5.5 gigawatt hours
FERC license: No. 2608 issued in 1994
Applicant: A & D Hydro Inc.
Applicant contact: Thomas Tarpey, Vice President, A&D Hydro, Inc., 55 Union Street, 4th floor, Boston, MA 02108, 617-367-0032
Date application posted to website: August 29, 2005
Date public comment period closed: October 31, 2005
Effective date of certification decision: August 29, 2005
The West Springfield Project is located in the Connecticut River Basin. The Connecticut River is the largest river in the New England states. It extends about 400 miles from its origin in Fourth Connecticut Lake, New Hampshire, at an elevation of 2,625 feet, to Saybrook, Connecticut, where it empties into Long Island Sound. The tidal portion of the river extends from Long Island Sound to a point 60 miles upstream (Enfield Rapids).
The Connecticut River is a highly developed resource with many projects in the smaller tributaries of northern Massachusetts, Vermont, and New Hampshire. At present, there are 109 existing hydroelectric developments in the Connecticut River Basin. Because of their upstream location and remoteness, however, these projects have no effect on the West Springfield Project.
The Westfield River is a major tributary of the Connecticut River. The Westfield and Connecticut Rivers confluence is about 7 miles north of the Massachusetts/Connecticut border. Ground elevation at the confluence of the Westfield and Connecticut Rivers is about 48 feet msl.
The West Springfield Project consists of : an 18-foot-high, 447.5-foot-long timber crib dam with a dam crest elevation of 92.80 feet above mean sea level (msl) that creates a 20-acreimpoundment; a 2,610-foot-long, 50-foot-wide power canal with concrete headworks containing six gates; a concrete and brick powerhouse about 60 feet long, 54 feet wide, and 63 feet high containing two vertical Francis turbines connected to two 480-volt generators; and a tailrace approximately 157 feet in length and having a width varying from 30 to 48 feet. There are no primary transmission lines included in the project.
Unit One is rated at 900 kilowatts (kW) and Unit Two is rated at 466 kW. However, due to flow restriction in the power canal, the combined capacity is 1,200 kW (Unit One at 800 kW and Unit Two at 400 kW). The project's average annual generation is 5.5 gigawatt-hours (GWh).
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) issued a license in October, 1994 to the then Licensee, Decorative Specialties International, Inc. (DSI or applicant), for the continued operation and maintenance of the 1.4-megawatt (MW) West Springfield Hydroelectric Project FERC No. 2608. The current Licensee and applicant for certification, A & D Hydro, Inc., acquired the project on July 20, 2004. The Federal Power Commission issued the original license for the project to the Hammermill Paper Company in 1968.
Notice of the application was published on February 23, 1993. Five parties filed timely motions to intervene in this proceeding: the U.S. Department of the Interior (Interior), Pioneer Valley Planning Commission (PVPC), the Westfield River Watershed Association (WRWA), the Commonwealth of Massachusetts (Massachusetts), and a joint motion filed by Trout Unlimited et al. (TU). Most of the motions to intervene were unopposed and therefore granted automatically.
TU filed a Motion to Intervene in Opposition to the project on April 26, 1993. TU later filed a motion to conditionally withdraw its opposition to the licensing of the West Springfield Hydroelectric Project based on the understanding that (1) this license would include the terms of a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) between the applicant, the Massachusetts Division of Fisheries and Wildlife (MDFW), and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) regarding fish passage facilities and protection of aquatic resources; and (2) the Commission would issue a final National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) document that does not substantively differ from the draft NEPA document.
The project currently operates as a run-of-river facility (inflow equals outflow instantaneously). The hydraulic capacity of the project is 622 cubic feet per second (cfs) (400 cfs for Unit One and 222 cfs for Unit Two). The adjacent Southworth Company also draws water from the power canal to operate their own generating facility. When DSI's facility is not operating and inflows are below the hydraulic capacity of the turbines used by the Southworth Company, all inflow is spilled at the dam.
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11-30-10
NOTE: Reference files for this project can be found at the Certified Facilities tab under the file name LIHI Certificate #19 – West Springfield Project, Westfield River, West Springfield & Agawam, MA. (FERC # 2608).
Because the West Springfield Project is a re-certification application, LIHI will use the 2005 documents as the basis of our review.