[Federal Register Volume 85, Number 14 (Wednesday, January 22, 2020)]
[Notices]
[Pages 3673-3674]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2020-00924]


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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission

[Project No. 15001-000]


Navajo Energy Storage Station LLC; Notice of Successive 
Preliminary Permit Application Accepted for Filing and Soliciting 
Comments, Motions To Intervene, and Competing Applications

    On July 1, 2019, Navajo Energy Storage Station LLC filed an 
application for a preliminary permit, pursuant to section 4(f) of the 
Federal Power Act, proposing to study the feasibility of the Navajo 
Energy Storage Station Pumped Storage Project (Navajo Energy Project or 
project). The project would be located at the U.S. Bureau of 
Reclamation's (Reclamation) Lake Powell Reservoir on the Colorado River 
in San Juan County, Arizona.
    The sole purpose of a preliminary permit, if issued, is to grant 
the permit holder priority to file a license application during the 
permit term. A preliminary permit does not authorize the permit holder 
to perform any land-disturbing activities or otherwise enter upon lands 
or waters owned by others without the owners' express permission.
    On August 26, 2019, the Commission asked Reclamation to confirm 
that non-federal development is authorized at the Lake Powell site. On 
October 24, 2019, Reclamation responded stating that it retains 
jurisdiction over hydropower development on the Lake Powell Reservoir, 
which is part of Reclamation's Colorado River Storage Project. On 
October 18, 2019, the Commission issued a letter to Navajo Energy 
Storage Station LLC stating that it agreed with Reclamation's 
jurisdictional decision over hydropower development at the Lake Powell 
Reservoir, but that the Commission would retain jurisdiction for 
hydropower facilities that would be located outside of Reclamation's 
development. Thus, an entity seeking to build a hydropower project that 
would use Reclamation's Lake Powell Reservoir would need to obtain a 
lease of power privilege from Reclamation, but it also would need to 
obtain a license from the Commission for those facilities of the 
hydropower project that are not under Reclamation's jurisdiction.
    The proposed project would utilize the Bureau of Reclamation's Lake 
Powell Reservoir, created by the Glen Canyon Dam, for its lower 
reservoir and would consist of the following new facilities: (1) A 
15,150-foot-long, 131-foot-high rockfill concrete dam that would 
impound an upper reservoir with a usable storage capacity of 18,600 
acre feet; (2) vertical intake for the upper reservoir; (3) a shoreline 
intake for the lower reservoir; (4) an approximately 6,550-foot-long 
water conveyance structure between the two reservoirs that will include 
a single 35-foot-diameter headrace tunnel, eight 11-foot-dameter 
penstocks, eight 15-foot-diameter draft tubes, and two 31-foot-diameter 
tailrace tunnels; (5) a powerhouse that includes eight variable-speed 
pump turbine generating units with a combined capacity of 2,210 
megawatts; (6) an 18-mile-long, 500-kilovolt transmission line that 
will connect with the existing 230-kilovolt line owned by Western Area 
Power Administration; and (7) appurtenant facilities. The estimated 
annual generation of the Navajo Energy Project would be 3,365 gigawatt-
hour.
    Applicant Contact: Jim Day, CEO, Daybreak Power Inc., 113 Moore 
Avenue SW, Vienna, VA 22180; phone: (703) 624-4971.
    FERC Contact: Timothy Konnert; phone: (202) 502-6359.
    Deadline for filing comments, motions to intervene, competing 
applications (without notices of intent), or notices of intent to file 
competing applications: 60 days from the issuance of this notice. 
Competing applications and notices of intent must meet the requirements 
of 18 CFR 4.36.
    The Commission strongly encourages electronic filing. Please file 
comments, motions to intervene, notices of intent, and competing 
applications using the Commission's eFiling system at http://www.ferc.gov/docs-filing/efiling.asp. Commenters can submit brief 
comments up to 6,000 characters, without prior registration, using the 
eComment system at http://www.ferc.gov/docs-filing/ecomment.asp. You 
must include your name and contact information at the end of your 
comments. For assistance, please contact FERC Online Support at 
FERCOnlineSupport@ferc.gov, (866) 208-3676 (toll free), or (202) 502-
8659 (TTY). In lieu of electronic filing, please send a paper copy to: 
Secretary, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, 888 First Street NE, 
Washington, DC 20426. The first page of any filing should include 
docket number P-15001-000.

[[Page 3674]]

    More information about this project, including a copy of the 
application, can be viewed or printed on the ``eLibrary'' link of 
Commission's website at http://www.ferc.gov/docs-filing/elibrary.asp. 
Enter the docket number (P-15001) in the docket number field to access 
the document. For assistance, contact FERC Online Support.

    Dated: January 14, 2020.
Kimberly D. Bose,
Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2020-00924 Filed 1-21-20; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 6717-01-P


