In the long-running relicensing saga of Northfield Mountain Pumped Storage hydro-generator, an annual constant has been its requests to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to temporarily pump more water from the Connecticut River.
In granting such requests, FERC allows Northfield Mountain to boost its mountaintop water storage capacity with an additional 22 feet of water in the 5-billion-gallon reservoir. Notably, FERC denied one such request last January because of the confirmed catch of the endangered shortnose sturgeon just downstream of the Vernon, Vt., dam.
The pumped storage systems pumps river water to the reservoir in times of excess, cheap electricity. Then, when there is not enough electricity to meet demand, water is released and electricity is generated as it descends through the turbines.
Now, FirstLight Hydro Generating Co., the owner of Northfield Mountain, has proposed a permanent “expanded-use scenario” so it doesn’t have to keep going back to FERC for permission to increase generating capacity during times of highest demand. The move marks the latest wrinkle in the five-plus-year relicensing process for the hydroelectric project.
Northfield Mountain cites various computer modeling and analyses to prove that increasing the useable storage volume in the upper reservoir would result in no impact in streambank erosion in the 20-mile stretch of river between the Vernon, Vt., and Turners Falls dams.
Pushing back against this scenario is the nonprofit Connecticut River Conservancy, which contends that the original streambank erosion study is flawed and needs to be redone, not merely updated.
This is just one of many moving parts in play in the relicensing process.
Other issues include the impact on endangered species, and the hydro-generator’s role in producing green energy, a goal of the state. Greening Greenfield, a group that advocates for local renewable energy, contends that the hydro plant cannot be called a renewable energy facility because it uses fossil fuels to pump the water to the upper reservoir. Additionally, Greening Greenfield advocates for a lower reservoir that is independent of the river, thus creating a “closed-loop system” that would resolve the problems of habitat disruption, river fluctuation and riverbank erosion. “Since a majority of the pumped storage systems worldwide are designed as closed-loop systems, it is time for FERC to require a thorough analysis of the feasibility of making Northfield Mountain a closed-loop system,” wrote member Nancy Hazard.
A “partial closed loop,” suggests the Connecticut River Conservancy, would move river water more gradually through an intermediate new, lower reservoir. Such a retrofit for the plant could also help the plant operate more efficiently and with lower erosion-control costs, the Conservancy says.
The operating license for the plant expired last April and it will likely be months before the federal regulatory agency issues its Notice of Environmental Analysis that sets deadlines for a formal Environmental Impact Report to be written. Meanwhile, informal settlement negotiations continue, which will set the requirements for the operation of the hydroelectric plant for four or more decades ahead. It is well to stay on the ball throughout this seemingly interminable process because, once FERC issues its Notice of Environmental Analysis, that sets a deadline for a formal Environmental Impact Report to be written, towns and others seeking intervenor status will have to move fast.