Questions raised about hydroelectric project
Gene Ghiotto
The Press-Enterprise
05/19/2011
The federal agency responsible for licensing a proposed hydroelectric generation project in Lake Elsinore has given two proponents until early June to explain why their application for the facility should not be dismissed.
A May 6 letter from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to Vista-based Nevada Hydro Co. and the Elsinore Valley Municipal Water District calls "into question the viability" of the application for the Lake Elsinore Advanced Pumped Storage project.
The letter cites conflicts between the two in the effort to gain approval from state water board officials and an apparent split over how the project should proceed.
David Kates, project manager for Nevada Hydro, declined to comment.
Ronald Young, general manager for Elsinore Valley, said the district is reviewing the letter and is not sure how it will respond.
The project calls for building a pumped-storage facility and dam in the Cleveland National Forest, where water pumped from Lake Elsinore at night would be stored.
Water then would be released through turbines in the daytime to generate electricity during hours of peak demand.
Power would be transmitted on 30 miles of the proposed Talega-Escondido/Valley-Serrano transmission lines. Towers that carry the power lines would run along the face of the mountains and connect the Southern California Edison and San Diego Gas and Electric power grids.
Nevada Hydro and the water district applied for a federal license in 2004 for the proposed 500-megawatt LEAPS facility.
Young said the project would be beneficial as California moves toward requiring more energy from renewable sources, such as wind and solar power.
"The system is going to need to be able to store energy for times during the day and during the seasons when the wind isn't blowing and the sun isn't shining," Young said.
A May 11 statement from the Center for Biological Diversity calls on federal regulators to deny the request to build the project.
"The LEAPS dam and power lines would deliver far more harm than good, hurting wildlife, increasing wildfires and dirtying our waters," Jonathan Evans of the center said in a statement.
In its letter, the federal commission points to instances in which Nevada Hydro and the water district were at odds over the project, including the October 2009 denial by the State Water Resources Control Board for a water quality certificate.
In its response, Nevada Hydro asked the board to reconsider the application for the certificate. The water district, however, supported denial of the application.
The letter also notes a December 2009 water district filing with the federal commission in which the district expressed its frustration over Nevada Hydro's independent effort for certification of the power lines. The California Public Utilities Commission is processing the application.
