Reclamation Provides Lease of Power Privilege to Two Lake Roosevelt Projects
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- Published: Monday, 17 January 2022 18:37
The Bureau of Reclamation gave the thumbs up for two separate projects working to bring pumped storage power to Lake Roosevelt. Reclamation selected Daybreak Power, Inc. and Columbia Basin Hydropower to receive a preliminary lease under the Lease of Power Privilege program. A LOPP is a contractual right given to a non-federal entity to use a Reclamation asset, such as a dam or conduit, for electric power generation consistent with Reclamation project purposes. The two preliminary lessees will study the case management of Lake Roosevelt waters and lands associated with operating Grand Coulee Dam and the Columbia Basin Project.
Selection for the LOPP program does not change the need for project proponents to meet complex federal and state regulatory approvals, including consultation with the Spokane Tribe of Indians and the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation.
Currently, the John W. Keys III Pump-Generating Plant at Grand Coulee Dam is the Northwest’s only pumped storage facility. The pump-generating plant contains 12 pumps that lift water from the Columbia River up the hillside to a canal that flows into Banks Lake. The lake provides irrigation water to over 670,000 acres in central WA. Six of the units are pump generators that can be reversed to generate clean, renewable hydroelectricity when demand exists.
The interest in building new pumped storage projects relates in large part to climate change. States, utilities, and municipalities are pursuing goals to replace fossil fuel power plants like coal with carbon-free power such as wind and solar. When the wind isn’t blowing or the sun shining, pumped storage energy has the advantage of being available to pick up the slack.
Banks Lake Pump Storage Project
In development for about a decade, this proposed project would essentially expand the use of Banks Lake. As additional water is pumped up to Banks Lake, a new inlet would allow water to flow through pipes about 300 feet underground to a subterranean powerhouse. Here, three generating units could produce up to 500 megawatts of power—enough to meet the annual electricity needs of over 300,000 homes. Pipes would be used to return the water to Lake Roosevelt just above Grand Coulee Dam.
The project is being developed by Columbia Basin Hydropower, a company that provides administration, operations, and maintenance for hydroelectric facilities owned by the three Columbia Basin irrigation districts. The projected cost to construct is $ 1.5 billion.
Halverson Canyon Project
In the last year, Daybreak Power, Inc. came into the picture with a proposal to study the construction of a 399-foot dam in Halverson Canyon. This is about 35 miles upstream of Grand Coulee Dam on the Lincoln County side of Lake Roosevelt.
A new upland reservoir capable of holding 29,000-acre feet of water would be connected to the dam and Lake Roosevelt through 10,000 feet of water conveyance pipes. The force of falling water released from the reservoir would turn up to nine turbines capable of producing 2,650 megawatts of electricity (enough to power about 1.7 million homes annually.) Daybreak estimates the cost of constructing this project to be $4.9 billion.