By Rich Heidorn Jr.

FERC said last week it is considering changing the way it establishes license terms at nonfederal hydropower projects.

The Federal Power Act allows the commission to issue original licenses for up to 50 years and renewals for between 30 and 50 years.

The commission’s current policy on renewals is to set a 30-year term when there is little or no new construction, or environmental mitigation required; a 40-year term for projects with a “moderate” amount of such activities; and a 50-year term for projects requiring “an extensive” amount of such activity.

“The purpose of this policy is to ease the economic impact of new costs and promote balanced and comprehensive development,” FERC staffer Carolyn Clarkin said in a presentation at Thursday’s open meeting. “Determining whether the measures required under a license are minimal, moderate or extensive is highly case-sensitive and largely based on a qualitative analysis of the record before the commission.”

The commission’s policy is a forward-looking approach, “such that measures adopted under a previous license term are not considered,” Clarkin added.

In a draft Notice of Inquiry (RM17-4), FERC sought comment on five potential options:

• Retaining the existing license-term policy
• Considering measures implemented during a prior license term
• Establishing a 50-year default license term
• Including a “more quantitative cost-based analysis”; and
• Establishing the license term based on negotiated settlement agreements when appropriate.

The open meeting also featured a staff presentation on the commission’s dam safety program and a description of the recently opened Meldahl Project, four sets of hydropower turbines at locks and dams on the Ohio River. A joint venture between American Municipal Power and the City of Hamilton, Ohio, the 300 MW project was the first major hydropower project constructed in several decades in the U.S.

FERC regulates more than 2,500 dams with 55,800 MW of capacity, more than half of all hydroelectric capacity in the U.S. Almost 1,000 of the dams are classified as posing high or significant hazards and subject to annual inspections. The remaining, low-hazard, dams are inspected every three years.