[Federal Register Volume 84, Number 193 (Friday, October 4, 2019)]
[Notices]
[Pages 53134-53135]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2019-21638]


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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission

[Project No. 15002-000]


 Premium Energy Holdings, LLC; Notice of Preliminary Permit 
Application Accepted for Filing and Soliciting Comments, Motions To 
Intervene, and Competing Applications

    On July 10, 2019, Premium Energy Holdings, 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 Walker 
Lake Pumped Storage Project (Walker Lake or project) to be located on 
Walker Lake and Walker River, near the community of Walker Lake, 
Mineral County, Nevada. 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.
    The proposed project would be a closed-loop pumped storage 
hydropower facility. The applicant proposes three alternative upper 
reservoirs: Bald Mountain Reservoir, Copper Canyon Reservoir, or Dry 
Creek Reservoir. The existing Walker Lake would be the lower reservoir 
for each alternative.

Upper Reservoir Alternative 1: Bald Mountain Reservoir

    The Bald Mountain Reservoir alternative consists of: (1) A 101-acre 
upper reservoir having a total storage capacity of 23,419 acre-feet at 
a normal maximum operating elevation of 6,500 feet mean sea level 
(msl); (2) a 615-foot-high, 2,195-foot-long roller compacted concrete 
upper reservoir dam; (3) a 0.88-mile-long, 30-foot-diameter concrete-
lined headrace tunnel; (4) a 0.3-mile-long, 27-foot-diameter concrete-
lined vertical shaft; (5) a 1.85-mile-long, 27-foot-diameter concrete-
lined horizontal tunnel; (6) five 0.15-mile-long, 17-foot-diameter 
steel penstocks; (7) a 500-foot-long, 85-foot-wide, 160-foot-high 
concrete-lined powerhouse located in an underground cavern, housing 
five pump-turbine generator-motor units rated for 400 megawatts (MW) 
each; and (8) a 0.45-mile-long, 32-foot-diameter concrete-lined 
tailrace tunnel discharging into the existing Walker Lake.

[[Page 53135]]

Upper Reservoir Alternative 2: Copper Canyon Reservoir

    The Copper Canyon Reservoir alternative consists of: (1) A 235-acre 
upper reservoir having a total storage capacity of 36,266 acre-feet at 
a normal maximum operating elevation of 5,740 feet msl; (2) a 505-foot-
high, 6,105-foot-long roller compacted concrete upper reservoir dam; 
(3) a 0.56-mile-long, 35-foot-diameter concrete-lined headrace tunnel; 
(4) a 0.2-mile-long, 31-foot-diameter concrete-lined vertical shaft; 
(5) a 1.05-mile-long, 31-foot-diameter concrete-lined horizontal 
tunnel; (6) five 0.1-mile-long, 20-foot-diameter steel penstocks; (7) a 
500-foot-long, 85-foot-wide, 160-foot-high concrete-lined powerhouse 
located in an underground cavern, housing five pump-turbine generator-
motor units rated for 400 MW each; and (8) a 0.6-mile-long, 38-foot-
diameter concrete-lined tailrace tunnel discharging into the existing 
Walker Lake.

Upper Reservoir Alternative 3: Dry Creek Reservoir

    The Dry Creek Canyon Reservoir alternative consists of: (1) A 105-
acre upper reservoir having a total storage capacity of 21,953 acre-
feet at a normal maximum operating elevation of 6,560 feet msl; (2) a 
775-foot-high, 6,870-foot-long roller compacted concrete upper 
reservoir dam; (3) a 0.98-mile-long, 29-foot-diameter concrete-lined 
headrace tunnel; (4) a 0.33-mile-long, 26-foot-diameter concrete-lined 
vertical shaft; (5) a 2.56-mile-long, 26-foot-diameter concrete-lined 
horizontal tunnel; (6) five 0.1-mile-long, 17-foot-diameter steel 
penstocks; (7) a 500-foot-long, 85-foot-wide, 160-foot-high concrete-
lined powerhouse located in an underground cavern, housing five pump-
turbine generator-motor units rated for 400 MW each; and (8) a 0.23-
mile-long, 31-foot-diameter concrete-lined tailrace tunnel discharging 
into the existing Walker Lake.

Lower Reservoir: Walker Lake

    The existing Walker Lake has a surface are of 32,120 acres at 3,920 
feet msl, and a total storage capacity of 1.4 million acre-feet.

Interconnection

    For each upper reservoir alternative, project power would be 
transmitted to the grid via: (1) A new, approximately 10-mile-long, 500 
kilovolt (kV) transmission line extending from the powerhouse to the 
proposed Walker Converter Station (the point of interconnection); and 
(2) appurtenant facilities. The estimated annual generation of the 
Pyramid Lake Project under each of the alternatives would be 6,900 
gigawatt-hours.
    Applicant Contact: Victor M. Rojas, Managing Director, Premium 
Energy Holdings, LLC, 355 South Lemon Avenue, Suite A, Walnut, 
California 91789; phone: (909) 595-5314.
    FERC Contact: Kyle Olcott; phone: (202) 502-8963.
    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 
[email protected], (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-15002-000.
    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-15002) in the docket number field to access 
the document. For assistance, contact FERC Online Support.

    Dated: September 30, 2019.
Nathaniel J. Davis, Sr.,
Deputy Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2019-21638 Filed 10-3-19; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 6717-01-P