Hydropower Project At Dashields L&D Gets Preliminary FERC Approval

The Federal Register reported May 10 that a preliminary permit has been approved by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission for a hydropower project proposed by Dashields Hydropower Corporation for installation at Dashields Lock and Dam on the Ohio River at Corapolis, Pa.

Dashields is a fixed-crest dam with two locks, the larger one for commercial traffic at 600 feet long and an auxiliary lock for recreational traffic that is half that size. Dashields Hydropower Corporation filed its application on November 2, 2022, for a preliminary permit, pursuant to section 4(f) of the Federal Power Act (FPA), proposing to study the project’s feasibility. A preliminary permit, just one step in a long process, grants the permit holder priority to file a license application during the permit term.

The proposed project would consist of the following:

(1) a new 150-foot-long, 90-foot-wide intake channel to be located immediately downstream of the opposite bank of the existing locks and dam;

(2) two new 5-megawatt Kaplan pit turbine/generator units;

(3) a new 200- by 90 by 105-foot powerhouse;

(4) a new 60- by 40-foot substation with a new 13.8/69-kilovolt (kV) three-phase step-up transformer;

(5) a new three-phase, 69-kV, 2-mile-long transmission line;

(6) a new 175-foot-long, 90-foot-wide tailrace; and

(7) appurtenant facilities. The project would have an  annual generation of 52,000 megawatt-hours.