US extends five hydro dam construction licenses

The US federal government has extended five hydro dam construction licenses.

* the Gathright Hydroelectric Project located in Alleghany County, Virginia;
* the Flannagan Dam and Reservoir Hydroelectric Project located in Dickenson County, Virginia;
* the W. Kerr Scott Hydropower Project located on the Yadkin River in Wilkes County, North Carolina;
* the Jennings Randolph Hydroelectric Project located on the North Branch of the Potomac River in Garrett County, Maryland, and Mineral County, West Virginia; and
* the Cannonsville Hydroelectric Project located on the West Branch of the Delaware River in upstate New York.

The Gathright Hydro Project will be built at the Corps’ Gathright Dam in Alleghany County, Virginia near the Town of Falling Spring, about 5 miles from the West Virginia border. The Gathright Project has a capacity of 3.7 MW. The single generating unit will be placed in a pipe immediately upstream of the existing intake tower that controls the discharge from the lake. The annual generation should be about 18,000 MWh, which is enough to supply about 1,800 homes annually.

The Flannagan Project will be built at the Corps’ Flannagan Dam in Dickenson County, Virginia near the Town of Haysi, about 5 miles from the Kentucky border. The Flannagan Project will have a capacity of 1.8 MW. The two generating units will be placed inside the existing intake tower that controls the discharge from the lake.
The annual generation should be about 8,000 MWh, which is enough to supply about 800 homes annually.

The Kerr Scott project is a 4-megawatt project with about 20,000 MWh.

The Jennings Randolph Hydroelectric Project is a 14 MW project with expected generation of 55,500 MWh.

The Cannonsville Hydroelectric Project is a 14-megawatt, $72 million dam that will generate 42,000 MWh.