Press receives notice of proposed major project weeks late

A proposed project utilizing over 560,000-acre-feet at the Isabella Reservoir, that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers operates as its lower reservoir, would also include one of three new upper reservoir alternatives Erskine Reservoir, Fay Reservoir, or Cane Reservoir.
Although a notification, from the Department of Energy’s Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, to the public was dated June 11, 2024, the Kern Valley Sun did not receive this notice until Friday July 26, 2024. The public only had 60 days to comment from the original date.
The applicant Premium Energy Holdings LLC began the process back in March by applying to attain a preliminary permit in order to study the feasibility of the project occupying Federal Land, which the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and the US Forest Service both manage in the Kern Valley area.
This project could interconnect to the grid at either Southern California Edison’s Kernville-Isabella or Isabella-Weldon transmission lines
The preliminary permit did not initially authorize the applicant to use or enter the properties or waters therein without first attaining permission. Below was how the preliminary permit application described the project.
The Erskine Reservoir Alternative could offer the following new facilities: a 400-acre Erskine Reservoir with a storage capacity of 34,459 acre-feet at a maximum surface elevation of 4,500 feet msl; a 2,685-foot-long, 370-foot-high roller compacted concrete dam; a 0.92-mile-long, 34-foot-diameter concrete-lined headrace tunnel; a 0.21-mile-long, 30-foot-diameter concrete-lined vertical shaft; a 6.44-mile-long, 30-foot-diameter concrete-lined horizontal shaft; five 0.09-mile-long, 19-foot-diameter penstocks; a 500-foot-long, 125-foot-wide, 150-foot-high concrete powerhouse containing five pump-turbine generator units rated at 560 megawatts each; a 1.34-mile-long, 36-foot-diameter tailrace tunnel; and appurtenant facilities. The average annual energy production would be approximately 6,900 gigawatt-hours.
This Fay Reservoir Alternative could offer a 135-acre Fay Reservoir with a storage capacity of 19,073 acre-feet at a maximum surface elevation of 5,960, a 1814-foot-long, 650-foot-high roller compacted concrete dam; a 0.89-mile-long, 26-foot-diameter concrete-lined headrace tunnel; a 0.21-mile-long, 23-foot-diameter concrete-lined vertical shaft; a 6.22-mile-long, 23-foot-diameter concrete-lined horizontal shaft; 15-foot-diameter penstocks; a 500-foot-long, 125-foot-wide, 150-foot-high concrete powerhouse containing five pump-turbine generator units rated at 560 megawatts; a 1.29-mile-long, 28-foot-diameter tailrace tunnel; and appurtenant facilities. The yearly average energy production of the project could be around 6,900 gigawatt-hours.
The Cane Reservoir Alternative could offer a 185-acre Cane Reservoir with a storage capacity of 29,770 acre-feet at a maximum surface elevation of 4,740 feet msl; a 3,167-foot-long, 470-foot-high roller compacted concrete dam; a 0.53-mile-long, 32-foot-diameter concrete-lined headrace tunnel; a 0.12-mile-long, 29-foot-diameter concrete-lined vertical shaft; a 3.66-mile-long, 29-foot-diameter concrete-lined horizontal shaft; five 0.05-mile-long, 18-foot-diameter penstocks; a 500-foot-long, 125-foot-wide, 150-foot-high concrete powerhouse containing five pump-turbine generator units at 560 megawatts each; a 0.76-mile-long, 34-foot-diameter tailrace tunnel; and appurtenant facilities. The average yearly energy product of the project could equal around 6,900 gigawatt-hours.
FERC Contact: Everard Baker; email: [email protected]; phone: (202) 502-8554.
For public inquiries and assistance with filings such as interventions, comments, or requests for rehearing, the public is encouraged to contact OPP at (202) 502-6595 or [email protected].
The Commission strongly encouraged, in its notice, electronic filing and asked the public to file comments, motions to intervene, notices of intent, and competing applications using an eFiling system at https://ferconline.ferc.gov/​FERCOnline.aspx. Commenters can submit brief comments up to 6,000 characters. The public can send submissions through the U.S. Postal Service addressed to: Secretary Kimberly Bose, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, 888 First Street NE, Washington, DC 20426. Submissions sent via any other carrier must be addressed to: Kimberly D. Bose, Secretary, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, 12225 Wilkins Avenue, Rockville, Maryland 20852. The first page of any filing should include docket number P-15306-000.
More information about this project, the public may view or print it on the “eLibrary” link of Commission’s website at http://www.ferc.gov/​docs-filing/​elibrary.asp. Enter the docket number (P-15306) in the docket number field to access the document. For assistance, contact FERC Online Support.