Summersville Hydroelectric Project Receives Low Impact Re-Certification

The Low Impact Hydropower Institute (LIHI) announced that Gauley River Power Partners, Inc. (GRPP or applicant) has submitted an application for re-certification of the Summersville Hydroelectric Project which is located on the Gauley River, in Nicholas County, West Virginia – five miles south of the City of Summersville. Certification by the Institute also makes the power produced from the Summersville facility eligible for other “green” power certification programs.

 

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) issued a 50-year license to the City on September 25, 1992 to develop, finance, construct, own, and operate the 80-megawatte (MW) project.  This project (FERC 10813), as amended and approved by FERC, is the one being considered for low impact hydropower certification.  The project reservoir is Summersville Lake, which the ACOE manages for flood control, low-flow augmentation, and recreation.  Project operation is entirely dependent upon the ACOEs’ operation of the dam and the hydro project is managed as a run-of-the-river facility. 

The Project was certified by LIHI on November 10, 2004 for a five-year term.  In the Applicant’s filing for re-certification they state that nothing about the project has changed that would affect the certifiability of the Summersville Project.

 

Site Description: 

The project is located on the Gauley River in Nicholas and Fayette Counties, West Virginia, between Summersville dam and the upper boundary of the Gauley River National Recreation Area (GRNRA).  The terrain is rugged and characterized by sharp ridges and narrow v-shaped valleys.  The Gauley River does not have a floodplain in the project area. 

 

Project Information: 

The project reservoir is Summersville Lake, which the ACOE manages for flood control, low-flow augmentation, and recreation.  The dam was authorized by Congress in 1938.  It was originally constructed in conjunction with two other dams to control flood waters in the Kanawha basin, a 12,300-square-mile area located in three states.  The dams operated as a system, control flows into the Ohio River.  Summersville dam was built in 1966 at a cost of $48 million (1966 dollars).  It is an earthen structure 393 feet high and 2,280 feet long. 

 

The ACOE operates the dam and controls the rate of water released through the dam.  The hydroelectric project is, in effect, run-of-the-river – generating power only with the flows that the ACOE releases. Hydroelectric project operations are coordinated with the ACOE on a day-to-day and hour-by-hour basis. When water release rates are sufficient, the project generates electricity. 

 

This article includes publically available information, and was assembled by Rachel Shanteau, Acacia Environmental Group LLC. For more information on the author see here.