[Federal Register Volume 85, Number 23 (Tuesday, February 4, 2020)]
[Notices]
[Pages 6152-6153]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2020-02107]


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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission

[Project No. 2883-009]


Aquenergy Systems, LLC; Notice of Application Ready for 
Environmental Analysis, and Soliciting Comments, Recommendations, Terms 
and Conditions, and Prescriptions

    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.: 2883-009.
    c. Date Filed: May 30, 2018.
    d. Applicant: Aquenergy Systems, LLC (Aquenergy).
    e. Name of Project: Fries Hydroelectric Project (Fries Project).
    f. Location: The existing project is located on the New River, in 
Grayson County, Virginia. The project does not occupy any federal land.
    g. Filed Pursuant to: Federal Power Act, 16 U.S.C. 791(a)-825(r).
    h. Applicant Contact: Kevin Webb, Hydro Licensing Manager, Enel 
Green Power North America, Inc., 100 Brickstone Square, Suite 300, 
Andover, MA 01810; (978) 935-6039; [email protected].
    i. FERC Contact: Jody Callihan, (202) 502-8278 or 
[email protected].
    j. Deadline for filing comments, recommendations, terms and 
conditions, and prescriptions: Sixty (60) days from the issuance date 
of this notice; reply comments are due one hundred five (105) days from 
the issuance date of this notice.
    All filings must (1) bear in all capital letters the title 
``COMMENTS,'' ``REPLY COMMENTS,'' ``RECOMMENDATIONS,'' ``TERMS AND 
CONDITIONS,'' or ``PRESCRIPTIONS;'' (2) set forth in the heading the 
name of the applicant and the project number of the application to 
which the filing responds; (3) furnish the name, address, and telephone 
number of the person submitting the filing; and (4) otherwise comply 
with the requirements of 18 CFR 385.2001 through 385.2005. All 
comments, recommendations, terms and conditions or prescriptions must 
set forth their evidentiary basis and otherwise comply with the 
requirements of 18 CFR 4.34(b). Agencies may obtain copies of the 
application directly from the applicant. Each filing must be 
accompanied by proof of service on all persons listed in the service 
list prepared by the Commission in this proceeding, in

[[Page 6153]]

accordance with 18 CFR 4.34(b) and 385.2010.
    The Commission strongly encourages electronic filing. Please file 
comments, recommendations, terms and conditions, and prescriptions 
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-2883-009.
    The Commission's Rules of Practice require all intervenors filing 
documents with the Commission to serve a copy of that document on each 
person on the official service list for the project. Further, if an 
intervenor files comments or documents with the Commission relating to 
the merits of an issue that may affect the responsibilities of a 
particular resource agency, they must also serve a copy of the document 
on that resource agency.
    k. This application has been accepted for filing and is now ready 
for environmental analysis.
    l. The existing Fries Project consists of: (1) A 41-foot-high, 610-
foot-long rock masonry dam with a 500-foot-long spillway; (2) an 88-
acre impoundment at the normal pool elevation (spillway crest 
elevation) of 2,188.27 feet National Geodetic Vertical Datum of 1929 
(NGVD 1929); (3) an approximately 750-foot-long, 110-foot-wide intake 
canal with four 15.5-foot-high, 6.5-foot-wide headgates; (4) a canal 
spillway consisting of 10 stoplog bays totaling 47 feet in length; (5) 
two 12.5-foot-high, 5.0-foot-wide canal gates; (6) a steel powerhouse 
that contains a single vertical Kaplan turbine with a capacity of 2.1 
megawatts (MW) that discharges into a 180-foot-long, 75-foot-wide, 12-
foot-deep tailrace; (7) a masonry powerhouse that contains one vertical 
and two horizontal Francis turbines with a total capacity of 3.0 MW 
that discharges into a 180-foot-long, 120-foot-wide, 12-foot-deep 
tailrace; (8) a 500-foot-long, 450-foot-wide bypassed reach that 
extends from the toe of the dam to the confluence with the tailraces; 
(9) a 567-foot-long, 13.2-kilovolt (kV) transmission line that runs 
from the steel powerhouse to the interconnection point with the grid; 
(10) a 130-foot-long transmission line that connects the masonry 
powerhouse to a 5,000 kilovolt-amp step-up transformer and an 
additional 323-foot-long, 13.2-kV transmission line leading from the 
transformer to the interconnection point; and (11) appurtenant 
facilities.
    Aquenergy proposes to continue operating the project in a run-of-
river mode. In addition, Aquenergy proposes to: (1) Maintain the 
impoundment elevation within 0.2 foot of the spillway crest of 2,188.27 
feet NGVD 1929 at all times, during normal project operation; (2) make 
enhancements to the impoundment access recreation site and canoe 
portage trail; (3) develop a project recreation management plan; and 
(4) develop a project operations plan. For the period 2003 through 
2016, the average annual generation at the Fries Project was 26,150 
megawatt-hours.
    m. 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 website 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 FERC 
Online Support at [email protected] or toll-free at 1-866-208-
3676, or for TTY, (202) 502-8659. A copy is also available for 
inspection and reproduction at the address in item h above.
    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 schedule. Revisions to the schedule may be made as 
appropriate.

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                 Milestone                           Target date
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Filing of recommendations, terms and        March 2020.
 conditions, and prescriptions.
Commission issues Environmental Assessment   August 2020.
 (EA).
Comments on EA............................   September 2020.
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    o. Final amendments to the application must be filed with the 
Commission no later than thirty (30) days from the issuance date of 
this notice.

    Dated: January 29, 2020.
Kimberly D. Bose,
 Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2020-02107 Filed 2-3-20; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 6717-01-P