Innovation in Global Power - Parsons Brinckerhoff

Hydropower – New Technologies, New Considerations
water allocation model to simulate the protection, mitigation
and enhancement measures and quantify their effects on
both future power generation and revenues, and on reservoir
levels and downstream flows. 2
Over a three-year period we met with the stakeholder group
each month and presented the model as it was developed,
calibrated and verified. Once the model was ready to simulate
operating alternatives, the stakeholders were allowed to define
alternative operating policies that they wanted to simulate.
PB conducted the simulations and presented the results,
illustrating the trade-offs among alternatives to the group.
Significant Accomplishments
The most significant and important accomplishment was
FERC’s issuance of a new 40-year license to extend Tapoco’s
operations through 2045. This was accomplished through a
Relicensing Settlement Agreement that was negotiated by
our client and our team, executed with numerous agencies
and non-governmental agencies, and accepted by FERC with
minimal supplement conditions. The components that made
the license significant were the:
• Settlement agreement. This agreement included the
following protection, mitigation and enhancement measures
and terms:
– Higher reservoir levels for longer summer reservoir
recreation, increased head for power generation, and
water storage for drought mitigation
– Increased flow releases to enhance downstream aquatic
habitat and improve downstream water quality and
quantity by increasing dilution of downstream effluents.
– A low-inflow protocol that is triggered during agreedupon
low-flow conditions to override the normal
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operating policy and “share the pain” among all of the
stakeholders to reduce the impact of droughts.
• Land exchange. Our team and the National Park Service
executed a land exchange agreement allowing FERC to license
the project and accompanying lands. Large contiguous tracts
of land were placed under conservation easement, and new
areas and sensitive habitats are now protected, providing
significant environmental benefits to the Great Smoky
Mountain National Park and East Tennessee. PB’s geographic
information system (GIS) capabilities supported this effort
and helped the team to bring the parties into agreement.
Although not a term of the relicensing process, another
accomplishment that is significant and worth noting is that
the new license supports continued employment of more
than 2,700 people at Alcoa’s aluminum smelting facility. It
does so by maintaining low-energy input costs to the products
manufactured at the facility and, thereby, ensuring the business’s
economic competitiveness.
Conclusion
The new Tapoco Project license is long-term, mutually beneficial
to all parties and socio-economically beneficial to the eastern
Tennessee region. It was considered a “successful” license for
three primary reasons:
• It had broad-based external stakeholder support.
• It was completed on schedule, meaning time extensions
were not required from FERC’s allotted five- to seven-year
timeframe, and within budget.
• Environmental issues were addressed in meaningful ways
that reflected value to the stakeholders and avoided prescriptive
solutions that might have been applied by FERC.
Related Web Sites:
• FERC licensing processes: http://www.ferc.gov/industries/
hydropower/gen-info/licensing.asp
• Tapoco Project: http://www.alcoa.com/tapoco/en/home.asp
2 See the following article, “Using OASIS Software to Model Water Allocation for Hydropower Generation Projects” by Paul Shiers, Shirley Williamson and Chii-Ell Tsai for more
information about how PB used OASIS to estimate Tapoco’s future power generation and revenues.
Kareem Bynoe is a senior engineer currently working on the relicensing of Alcoa Power Generation, Inc.’s Yadkin Project. He is also managing the development of a GIS
database to support the feasibility study of hydroelectric developments in Greenland.
Paul Shiers is a PB vice president with 38 years’ experience in hydroelectric power and water resource engineering. He has served as project manager for multiple
hydropower projects, and completed an assignment as principal engineer for work performed under a multi-year continuing services agreement with FERC as the senior
technical resource for hydro relicensing and compliance tasks.
Shirley Williamson is a senior supervising civil engineer with 29 years’ experience in hydropower. She has been responsible for NEPA-based environmental assessments
ranging in size from the 38 plant system of the Tennessee Valley Authority to an individual 2.5 MW facility under FERC jurisdiction. In addition, Shirley has developed and
implemented reservoir operations studies, drought protocols, flood studies, and project safety response plans and training programs for owners of hydroelectric facilities.
Tony Plizga is a senior principal engineer with 36 years’ experience in civil-structural engineering and design. Since joining PB in 2000, he has worked on various hydroelectric
projects within the Boston Office Hydro Group. Tony is currently responsible for the FERC safety related tasks on the Tapoco and Yadkin Projects, which include a
total of eight hydroelectric developments.
PB Network #68 / August 2008 34