June 28, 2024 |
Photo – Seminoe Reservoir canyon to the dam – Bigfoot99 file photo
A Utah-based energy development company hosted a presentation this week to explain a proposed electrical storage project at the Seminoe Reservoir. Wednesday afternoon, in the Parco Sinclair Theater, representatives from rPlus Energies talked about the proposed Seminoe Pumped Storage Project.
The presentation was the first in a series of public meetings required by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s permitting process.
rPlus Energies Chief of Staff Theresa Foxley said a pumped storage facility acts like a giant water battery. When electricity is abundant, water is pumped from a low lying lake into a higher reservoir. Foxley said when energy demands outpace production, the water is allowed to flow downhill through an electrical turbine, generating electricity.
Foxley said the country’s hunger for electricity is growing. The proposed pumped storage facility at Seminoe will add reliable energy production methods for the power line from Wyoming to Washington, which will be energized by less reliable sources, such as wind and solar.
Foxley said a well-maintained pump storage system can remain operational for 100 years or more.
rPlus Energies Program Manager Lars Dorr said the Seminoe Reservoir has long been considered one of the best sites in the state for a pumped energy storage facility. Dorr said the existing reservoir means his company will only need to construct the upper lake to house the stored water.
The proposed pumped storage site is northeast of the Seminoe Reservoir. Large underground tunnels will move the water from the reservoir to and from a newly constructed higher lake. Dorr said the benefit of the project is that most of the facility will be located underground.
The hydroelectric powerhouse will also be located underground, approximately halfway between the existing reservoir and the proposed upper lake. Roughly 29 miles of electrical transmission lines will take the energy produced by the facility to the Aeolus substation, north of Medicine Bow.
Dorr said the project is expected to generate 900 megawatts of electricity over the course of 10 hours.
Dorr said the proposed upper reservoir will be roughly one percent the size of the existing Seminoe Reservoir. When water is released from the upper lake, it will drop 1,000 feet through a 30-foot-wide pipe, spinning a turbine and generating electricity for roughly 10 to 12 hours. The program manager said when the facility is operating, the water level of the Seminoe Reservoir will change by 6 to 18 inches.
Dorr said the project is estimated to cost between $2.5 and $3.5 billion. Over the course of the project’s five-year construction timeline, Dorr said rPlus Energies will employ 200 people and contribute up to $7 million a year in sales tax to Carbon County.
After construction is complete, Dorr said rPlus Energies will hire 31 full-time employees and generate up to $9 million in property taxes.
rPlus Energies Deputy General Counsel Kevin Baker said the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission permitting process for the pumped storage project began in January of 2023. Baker said the federal government demands expensive and time consuming environmental and safety studies be performed before any work can begin.
Baker said nearly all the required studies have been submitted and rPlus is waiting for final licensing approval from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.
By December of this year, Baker said he expects to begin the National Environmental Policy Act, or NEPA, review, where members of the public can weigh in on the project.
Once all the information from the NEPA review is gathered, Baker said the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission will create a draft environmental impact statement. After another round of public meetings, Baker said the federal government will issue their final decision on the project. The rPlus Energies attorney said he expects construction to begin in June of 2026.
Program Manager Dorr was asked what impact the proposed pumped storage project will have on trout fishing in the Miracle Mile. Dorr said preliminary studies indicate that the storage facility will have little to no impact on the local fish population.
The Seminoe Pumped Storage Project is still early in development. The rPlus Energies representatives were unable to say exactly who will purchase energy produced at the facility and how much that energy will cost. They were also unclear about how workers will get to the site during the winter.
More public meetings will be held before the project is given the green light to begin construction.
