Hydropower

Integrated Licensing Process

• A Guide to Understanding and Applying the Integrated Licensing Process Study Criteria 
• Ideas for Implementing and Participating in the Integrated Licensing Process (ILP) 
• Understanding the Study Criteria: ILP

Checklists

• Adequacy Review Checklist for Preliminary Permit Applications
• Adequacy Review Checklists for Notice of Intent 
• Adequacy Review Checklist for Pre Application Documents
• Adequacy Review Checklists for Hydropower License Applications (ILP)
• Adequacy Review Checklists for Hydropower License Applications (Traditional Licensing Process)
• Adequacy Review Checklist for 5 MW Exemption Applications
• Checklist for Application for Exemption of Small Conduit Hydroelectric

Recreation & Fisheries

• Impacts of Hydroelectric Plant Tailraces on Fish Passage
• Preliminary Assessment of Fish Entrainment at Hydropower Projects--volume 1
• Preliminary Assessment of Fish Entrainment at Hydropower Projects--volume 2 
• Shoreline Development Applications 
• Shoreline Management Planning 
• Recreation Development at Licensed Hydropower Projects

General Guidance

• Guidance for Applicants Seeking Licenses or Preliminary Permits for Closed- Loop Pumped Storage Projects at Abandoned Mine Sites
• Evaluating Geologic and Soils Issues at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission
• Managing Hydropower Project Exhibits - Drawings Guide   | Summary of August 2014 Updates 
• Preparing Environmental Documents
• Development of Historic Properties Management Plans 
• Hydropower Licensing and Endangered Species

Hydroelectric power regulation was the first work undertaken by the Federal Power Commission, the Commission's predecessor, after Congress passed the Federal Water Power Act of 1920.

Subsequent statutes under which the Commission regulates non-federal hydroelectric power projects that affect navigable waters, occupy U.S. lands, use water or water power at a government dam, or affect the interests of interstate commerce include the FPA (Federal Power Act), the PURPA (Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act), the Electric Consumers Protection Act of 1986, and the EPAct (Energy Policy Act of 1992).

This work includes: Issuing preliminary permits, project licenses, and exemptions from licensing; ensuring dam safety; performing project compliance activities; investigating and assessing payments for headwater benefits; and coordinating with other agencies.

Licenses are issued for a term of between 30 to 50 years, and exemptions are granted in perpetuity. Commission costs are offset by annual charges collected from license and exemption holders. The Commission also determines charges for a licensee's use of federal lands, federal dams, and Native American reservations.

Licensed projects receive comprehensive safety inspections from Commission engineers stationed in Washington and at five regional offices. The Commission is responsible for dam safety at over 2,600 licensed and exempted dams and related water retention structures. The dam safety program is a key Commission priority.

Falling water in streams and rivers has been harnessed to produce electric energy for more than 100 years. Hydroelectric projects provide the most efficient means of producing electric energy (at about 90 percent efficiency).

Hydroelectric generation represents about 96 percent of our renewable energy production. We save 531 million barrels of oil each year by generating electricity via hydropower. Hydroelectric projects are:

• Free from air pollution.
• The fuel—falling water—is not consumed.
• Projects have long lives, often exceeding 50 years.
• Electric energy is immediately available for use.

In 1920, hydroelectric power represented about 30 percent of generating capacity in the U.S., and 40 percent of the energy supplied by electric systems. Today, hydro contributes only about 10 percent of the electricity produced in the U.S. or about 74,800 megawatts of generating capacity in the U.S.

FERC regulates only 56 percent of the hydroelectric projects in the U.S. The remaining projects have been built by the federal government. They are operated by the U.S. Department of the Interior (Bureau of Reclamation), the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Tennessee Valley Authority. Most hydroelectric projects serve other purposes, such as navigation, flood control, recreation, irrigation and flow augmentation.

The Commission's Office of Energy Projects is responsible for administering the hydropower program. All licensing matters and environmental compliance activities are managed from Washington DC. Dam safety and public safety inspections are also coordinated from Washington DC. Engineers located in New York, Atlanta, Chicago, San Francisco, and Portland (Oregon) inspect all projects periodically to ensure dam safety and public safety.

The Commission employs many specialists to evaluate all phases of constructing, operating and maintaining all regulated hydropower projects.

The specialists include:

• Mechanical, civil, and electrical engineers
• Geologists, soil scientists, historians, and economists
• Fishery biologists, aquatic ecologists, wildlife biologists, botanists, and ecologists
• Outdoor recreation planners and land-use planners

The Commission has the largest dam safety program in the United States. The Commission cooperates with a large number of federal and state agencies to ensure and promote dam safety and, more recently, homeland security.

Approximately 3,036 dams are in the program. Two-thirds of these dams are more than 50 years old. As dams age, concern over their safety and integrity grows, and oversight and a regular inspection program are extremely important.

The Commission staff inspects projects on an unscheduled basis to investigate:

• potential dam safety problems;
• complaints about constructing and operating a project;
• safety concerns related to natural disasters; and
• issues concerning compliance with the terms and conditions of a license.

Every 5 years an independent consulting engineer, approved by the Commission, must inspect and evaluate projects with dams higher than 32.8 feet (10 meters), or with a total storage capacity of more than 2,000 acre-feet (2.5 million cubic meters).

Many FERC-regulated project dams are located in seismically active areas like California and the Pacific Northwest. Due to concern that seismic events will adversely affect dams, the Commission retains the services of consultants for help at specific dams. Also, the Commission staff monitors and evaluates seismic research in geographic areas where there are concerns about possible seismic activity. This information is applied in investigating and performing structural analyses of hydroelectric projects in these potentially affected areas.

The Commission staff also evaluates the effects of potential and actual large floods on the safety of dams. During and following floods, the Commission staff visits project dams and licensed projects, determines the extent of damage, if any, and directs any necessary studies or remedial measures the licensee must undertake. The Commission publishes "Engineering Guidelines for the Evaluation of Hydropower Projects". This guides the Commission's engineering staff and licensees in evaluating dam safety. Additional chapters are being prepared and existing chapters are frequently revised to reflect current information and methodologies.

The Commission requires licensees to prepare emergency action plans and conducts training sessions on how to develop and test these plans. The plans are designed to serve as an early warning system if there is a potential for, or a sudden release of water from, a dam failure or accident to the dam. The plans include operational procedures that may be used, such as reducing reservoir levels and reducing downstream flows and procedures for notifying affected residents and agencies responsible for emergency management. These plans are frequently updated and tested to ensure that in emergency situations everyone knows what to do - thus saving lives and minimizing property damage.

The Commission is very concerned about the potential for serious accidents at hydropower projects. This is because many hydropower projects offer recreational opportunities such as boating, fishing, water skiing, etc. to the general public.

If conditions conducive to accidents or actually dangerous situations occur at these projects, the Commission can require an applicant or licensee to install, operate and maintain safety devices to warn the public about fluctuations in river flows from the project, or to protect the public when using project lands and waters. At many projects, licensees take the initiative and install safety devices, or implement safety measures.

The Commission staff takes a project-by-project approach to public safety. Each project has unique conditions that require different measures, but the ultimate consideration is the level of danger to the public. In addition to educating and informing the public of the dangers associated with hydropower projects, licensees use various safety devices and measures, including signs, lights, warning sirens, buoys, boat barriers, fences, safety nets, escape ladders and guards.

As of 2011, conventional hydroelectric plants provide 78,600 megawatts of generating capacity. Pumped storage projects provide an additional 22,000 megawatts of capacity.

Ownership of this hydroelectric generating capacity is divided as follows:

• 50 percent is federally owned.
• 25 percent is privately owned.
• 25 percent non-federal publicly owned (for example irrigation districts, cities, and water districts).

The Commission has no authority over any federally owned hydroelectric projects. However, it regulates privately and publicly (non-federal) owned projects through a total of 1,022 licenses and 641 exemptions.

FERC-regulated hydroelectric projects are found in all states except for Delaware, Mississippi, North Dakota, and Hawaii. The leading states in hydroelectric power generation are California, Massachusetts, Idaho, Oregon, and Washington.

Many FERC regulated hydroelectric projects are under 100 megawatts. However, the largest privately owned conventional hydroelectric project in the U.S. is the 1,166-megawatt Hell’s Canyon project on the Snake River near Adam County, ID and Baker County, OR. The Idaho Power Company has operated the project for over 50 years.

The largest operating non-federal, publicly owned conventional hydroelectric plant is the 2,755-megawatt Robert Moses-Niagara project operated by the New York Power Authority at Niagara Falls, New York. The largest conventional hydroelectric project owned by the federal government is the Grand Coulee project on the Columbia River in north-central Washington with a capacity of 7,079 megawatts.