[Federal Register Volume 81, Number 76 (Wednesday, April 20, 2016)]
[Notices]
[Pages 23292-23293]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2016-09092]


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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission

[Project No. 1966-054]


Wisconsin Public Service Corporation; Notice of Application 
Tendered For Filing with the Commission and Establishing Procedural 
Schedule For Licensing and Deadline For Submission of Final Amendments

    Take notice that the following hydroelectric application has been 
filed with the Commission and is available for public inspection.
    a. Type of Application: New Major License.
    b. Project No.: P-1966-054.
    c. Date filed: March 30, 2016.
    d. Applicant: Wisconsin Public Service Corporation.
    e. Name of Project: Grandfather Falls Hydroelectric Project.
    f. Location: The existing project is located on the Wisconsin River 
in Lincoln County, Wisconsin. The project would occupy 0.1 acres of 
Federal land managed by the Bureau of Land Management.
    g. Filed Pursuant to: Federal Power Act 16 U.S.C. 791(a)-825(r).
    h. Applicant Contact: Todd P. Jastremski, Asset Manager Hydro 
Operations, WE Energies, 800 Industrial Park Drive, Iron Mountain, MI 
49801; or at (906) 779-4099.
    i. FERC Contact: Lee Emery at (202) 502-8379 or by email at 
[email protected].
    j. This application is not ready for environmental analysis at this 
time.
    k. The existing Grandfather Falls Hydroelectric Project consists of 
(1) a 36-foot-high, 625-foot-long reinforced concrete main dam with a 
crest elevation of 1,402 feet National Geodetic Vertical Datum (NGVD) 
that includes a masonry non-overflow wall, a concrete spillway section 
with seven Tainter gates, and a non-overflow masonry dam and a rockfill 
embankment with masonry core wall; (2) a 340-acre reservoir at a full-
pool elevation of 1,397.1 feet NGVD; (3) a 67-foot-long by 51-foot-wide 
powerhouse containing an 11-MW turbine-generator and a 6.2-megawatt 
(MW) turbine-generator providing a combined installed capacity 17.2 MW; 
(4) a 300-foot-wide by 4,000-foot-long intake canal; (5) an 11-foot- 
diameter by 1,325-foot-long wooden stave penstock and a 13.5-foot-
diameter by 1,325-foot-long wooden stave penstock to the powerhouse; 
(7) a steel surge tank connected to each penstock; (8) an intake 
structure at the downstream end of the intake canal with two 55.5-foot-
wide by 30.5-foot-high trashracks with a clear bar spacing of 2.5 
inches; (9) a 20-foot-wide by 167-foot long concrete sluiceway at the 
canal intake structure; (10) 6.9-kilovolt (kV) generator leads; (11) a 
300-foot-long, 46 kV overhead transmission line; and (12) appurtenant 
facilities. The intake canal and penstocks bypass about 4,800 feet of 
the Wisconsin River.
    The Grandfather Falls Project is operated in a limited peaking 
mode. The project is fully automated and is remotely operated from 
Wisconsin Public Service's control center in Green Bay, which is 
staffed 24 hours a day, and 365 days a year. Remote operation includes 
starting and stopping the project generators, monitoring kilowatt 
output, monitoring headwater and tailwater gage elevations, and 
maintaining headwater elevations through the operation of a heated gate 
structure. The project is required to maintain a minimum flow of 400 
cubic feet per second (cfs) or inflow, whichever is less, as measured 
below

[[Page 23293]]

the project tailrace and include a continuous minimum flow of 50 cfs 
released into the bypassed reach of the Wisconsin River between the 
project dam and the tailrace.
    During normal peaking operations, the impoundment is drawn down 
from the maximum pond elevation during the day and refilled at night 
providing one peaking cycle per day. The maximum elevation of the 
impoundment is 1,397.1 feet NGVD and the minimum elevation is 1,396.1 
feet NGVD. The operating regime has both seasonal and daily variations 
depending on precipitation and controlled releases made at upstream 
storage reservoirs, regulated by the Wisconsin Valley Improvement 
Company. Water releases from the Tomahawk and the Grandmother Falls 
projects and the non-power dam at Spirit Lake, (which are all located 
upstream from the Grandfather Falls Project) are coordinated with water 
releases from the Grandfather Falls Project to ensure that adequate 
water is available in the Wisconsin River during the seasonal low-flow 
periods. The pondage provided by the 1 foot of maximum drawdown between 
elevation 1,396.1 feet NGVD and 1397.1 feet NGVD for the Grandfather 
Falls Project, is used to augment and adjust the timing of the peaking 
operation at the project. Recharge of the Grandfather Falls reservoir 
occurs in the late evening and early morning hours. The peaking 
discharges from the Grandfather Falls Project are attenuated by the 
effects of the downstream Bill Cross Rapids (which is part of a free-
flowing stretch of the Wisconsin River) with no evidence of the 
project's peaking effects visible at Wisconsin Public Service 
Corporation's downstream Alexander Project (FERC No. 1979), which 
operates in a run-of-river mode. When flows in the Wisconsin River 
exceed 2,820 cfs, water is discharged via operation of the spillway 
Tainter gates at the project.
    l. A copy of the application is available for review at the 
Commission in the Public Reference Room or may be viewed on the 
Commission's Web site at http://www.ferc.gov using the ``eLibrary'' 
link. Enter the docket number excluding the last three digits in the 
docket number field to access the document. For assistance, contact 
FERCOnline [email protected], (866) 208-3676 (toll free) or (202) 502-
8659 (TTY). A copy is also available for inspection and reproduction at 
the address in item h above.
    m. You may also register online at http://www.ferc.gov/docs-filing/esubscription.asp to be notified via email of new filings and issuances 
related to this or other pending projects. For assistance, contact FERC 
Online Support.
    n. Procedural schedule:
    The application will be processed according to the following 
preliminary Hydro Licensing Schedule. Revisions to the schedule may be 
made as appropriate.

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                Milestone                           Target date
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Notice of Acceptance/Notice of Ready for  June 2016.
 Environmental Analysis.
Filing of recommendations, preliminary    August 2016.
 terms and conditions, and fishway
 prescriptions.
Issue Environmental Assessment (EA).....  December 2016.
Comments due on EA......................  January 2017.
Modified terms and conditions...........  March 2017.
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    o. Final amendments to the application must be filed with the 
Commission no later than 30 days from the issuance date of the notice 
of ready for environmental analysis.

    Dated: April 6, 2016.
Kimberly D. Bose,
Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2016-09092 Filed 4-19-16; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 6717-01-P