Construction Support for New Slab Creek Powerhouse Project Award Number: DE-EE0005413 CX(s) Applied: A9, B5.24 Water Power Program Date: 12/15/2016 Location(s): CA Office(s): Golden Field Office
Office of NEPA Policy and Compliance
January 11, 2017
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Construction Support for New Slab Creek Powerhouse Project
Award Number: DE-EE0005413
CX(s) Applied: A9, B5.24
Water Power Program
Date: 12/15/2016
Location(s): CA
Office(s): Golden Field Office
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) is proposing to provide federal funding to Sacramento Municipal Utility District (SMUD) to deploy a drop-in hydroelectric turbine at a new powerhouse on the South Fork American River.
DOE completed a previous NEPA review (GFO-0005413-001, CX A9, C12, 03/07/2012) that included developing a technology transfer plan (Task 1); licensing and permitting (Task 2); and design (Task 3). That review did not review activities associated with Task 4, construction and system testing. The original Statement of Project Objectives (SOPO) contained 4 tasks. Since that time SMUD has modified the SOPO in which they modify task numbers, splits some tasks into separate tasks, and add a task. In the new SOPO, the activities associated with the original Task 1 have been added to a new Task 6 (described below). The original Task 2 (licensing and permitting) has become the new Task 1 (preliminary licensing and permitting) and Task 3 (final licensing and permitting). The original Task 3 (originally called final design) has become the new Task 2 (conceptual design) and Task 4 (final design). The content of these Tasks (the new Tasks 1 to 4) were reviewed in the prior NEPA review and will not be reviewed here. The original Task 4 (construction and system testing) has become the new Task 5. Added is a new Task 6 (performance and LCOE analysis) which would include an analysis of the efficiency of the turbine installed in Task 5, as well as development of a technology transfer plan (the original Task 1). As such, this NEPA review will review the new Tasks 5 and 6. Task 6 is composed of activities which are information gathering and dissemination, essentially determining how efficient the new turbine is and sharing that information. Task 5 involves the installation of a turbine.