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Water Use at the Holt Project Holt Hydroelectric Project

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Water Use at the Holt Project Holt Hydroelectric Project WATER USE AT THE HOLT PROJECT HOLT HYDROELECTRIC PROJECT FERC NO. 2203 ALABAMA POWER COMPANY BIRMINGHAM, ALABAMA Prepared by: OCTOBER 2011 WATER USE AT THE HOLT PROJECT HOLT HYDROELECTRIC PROJECT FERC NO. 2203 ALABAMA POWER COMPANY BIRMINGHAM, ALABAMA TABLE OF CONTENTS 1.0 INTRODUCTION ...............................................................................................................1 2.0 DESCRIPTION OF PROJECT LOCATION, FACILITIES AND OPERATION .............2 2.1 LOCATION .................................................................................................................2 2.2 HOLT PROJECT DESCRIPTION ....................................................................................7 2.3 USACE HOLT LOCK AND DAM DESCRIPTION ..........................................................7 2.4 PROJECT OPERATION ................................................................................................8 3.0 REFERENCES ..................................................................................................................10 LIST OF FIGURES FIGURE 2-1 BLACK WARRIOR RIVER BASIN PROJECTS ................................................................3 LIST OF PHOTOS PHOTO 2-1 HOLT LOCK AND DAM AND HOLT PROJECT—POWERHOUSE VISIBLE ON OPPOSITE SIDE OF RIVER ..........................................................................................4 PHOTO 2-2 HOLT POWERHOUSE, LOOKING DOWNSTREAM .........................................................5 PHOTO 2-3 ARMY CORPS OF ENGINEER’S HOLT LOCK—VIEW LOOKING UPSTREAM ................6 PHOTO 2-4 ARMY CORPS OF ENGINEER’S HOLT LOCK—VIEW LOOKING DOWNSTREAM...........7 LIST OF TABLES TABLE 2-1 2010 WATER RELEASES FROM HOLT LOCK AND DAM – DAY SECOND FEET BY MONTH ................................................................................................................9 LIST OF APPENDICES APPENDIX A TURBINE GENERATION AND SPILLWAY RELEASES 2000 TO 2010 APPENDIX B HOLT RESERVOIR REGULATION MANUAL J:\535\016\Docs\2011-09-26 Holt Water Use White Paper.docx i WATER USE AT THE HOLT PROJECT HOLT HYDROELECTRIC PROJECT FERC NO. 2203 ALABAMA POWER COMPANY BIRMINGHAM, ALABAMA 1.0 INTRODUCTION Alabama Power Company (Alabama Power) is currently in the process of relicensing the existing 46.9 megawatt (MW) Holt Hydroelectric Project (FERC License No. 2203). The Holt Hydroelectric Project (“Holt” or “Project”) is located on the Black Warrior River at the U. S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) Holt Lock and Dam in Tuscaloosa County, Alabama. The Project includes the powerhouse, 2.48 miles of transmission lines, and 32 acres of land within the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) Project Boundary. The powerhouse is connected to Holt Lock and Dam, and the lands and shoreline within the Project Boundary are owned by the USACE, state, and private entities. Alabama Power leases land from the USACE and private interests necessary to operate the Project. Holt Lock and Dam and Holt Lake (hereinafter referred to as “Lake”, “reservoir” or “pool”) are owned and operated by the USACE and are not licensed by FERC. The USACE controls the river flow at the Lock and Dam and the Project utilizes the surplus water for generation of electricity. Alabama Power’s existing FERC license for the Project expires on August 31, 2015; therefore Alabama Power’s relicense application for a new operating license must be filed with the FERC on or before August 31, 2013. Alabama Power will be developing a new license application using the Traditional Licensing Process (TLP), as required under the TLP and its accompanying regulations (18 C.F.R. § 5.6 and 16.8). This report was prepared to provide additional information of “water use” at the Project as requested by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service at the Joint Agency Meeting on December 1, 2010. 1 2.0 DESCRIPTION OF PROJECT LOCATION, FACILITIES AND OPERATION 2.1 LOCATION The Holt Project is located on River Mile 347.0 on the west side of the USACE Holt Lock and Dam on the Black Warrior River in Tuscaloosa County, Alabama (Figure 2-1 and Photo 2-1). The Project and the Holt Lock and Dam are approximately 7 miles northeast of Tuscaloosa, Alabama and 40 miles southwest of Birmingham, Alabama. The pool above the dam extends 19 miles upstream to the USACE’s Bankhead Lock and Dam and Bankhead Lake (Photo 2-2 through Photo 2-4). The Black Warrior River has a drainage area of approximately 6,278 square miles; the area of the Black Warrior watershed draining into the Holt reservoir is approximately 4,232 square miles. There are four locks and dams and two hydroelectric projects, which includes the Warrior Hydroelectric Project (Smith and Bankhead developments) and the Holt Project on the Black Warrior River. The locks and dams are operated by the USACE; the hydroelectric projects (Warrior and Holt) are owned and operated by Alabama Power. USACE’s Holt Lock and Dam and the associated Holt Project are the third hydroelectric facility on the river, from upstream to downstream. The Holt Lock and Dam was placed into operation in 1968 and created a navigation pool, which extends 19 miles upstream to the USACE’s Bankhead Lock and Dam and Bankhead Lake. Annual and monthly flow duration curves for the Project were developed using inflow values into Holt Lock and Dam which are calculated based on basin inflows and releases from the dam (see Holt Preliminary Application Document – August 27, 2010). The period of record used in the development of the flow duration curves was January 1984 to February 2010, and the drainage area for the gage is 4,219 square miles. The average daily flow at the Project is 7,268 cubic feet per second (cfs) (APC 2010). 2 FIGURE 2-1 BLACK WARRIOR RIVER BASIN PROJECTS 3 PHOTO 2-1 HOLT LOCK AND DAM AND HOLT PROJECT—POWERHOUSE VISIBLE ON OPPOSITE SIDE OF RIVER 4 PHOTO 2-2 HOLT POWERHOUSE, LOOKING DOWNSTREAM 5 PHOTO 2-3 ARMY CORPS OF ENGINEER’S HOLT LOCK—VIEW LOOKING UPSTREAM 6 PHOTO 2-4 ARMY CORPS OF ENGINEER’S HOLT LOCK—VIEW LOOKING DOWNSTREAM 2.2 HOLT PROJECT DESCRIPTION The Project has one turbine that has a minimum hydraulic capacity of 1,000 cfs, and maximum hydraulic capacity of 11,200 cfs. There is a 5-foot (ft) high concrete parapet wall along the upstream face of the powerhouse to prevent overflow of flood waters into the powerhouse, although the powerhouse would be flooded from tailwater at the spillway-design flood level. 2.3 USACE HOLT LOCK AND DAM DESCRIPTION The Holt Dam construction started in 1963 and was completed in 1968. It is physically 680 ft long and 40 ft high consisting of 14 individually operated Tainter gates, which are used for pool level management to support navigation and flood control. The maximum reservoir level for the spillway design flood as determined by the USACE is El. 206.4', which is 0.6 ft below the top of the embankment dam, gravity section and intake. 7 The lock was placed in operation in May 1966 (USACE, 2009a). The chamber dimensions of the lock are 110 feet wide and 600 feet long (USACE, 2009b). Maximum lift is 64.1 ft. The lock filling and emptying system consists of two intake ports in the riverside face of the lock, a square culvert in each lock wall, and two discharge ports in the river. The culverts are connected to the lock chamber by six bottom laterals from each lock wall. The filling and emptying system is controlled by tainter valves located in the culverts. There is a lock control station located on the river wall of the lock. It is a two story building which houses a stand-by generator, a switchboard for the lock and gated spillway, a remote control panel for spillway gates and other miscellaneous equipment. The lock allows for water vessels to pass both upstream and downstream at the dam. An average of three to five vessels passes through the lock daily. 2.4 PROJECT OPERATION Alabama Power operates the Holt Project based on the USACE’s management of Holt Lake. USACE’s first priority at the Holt Lock and Dam is to support river navigation. Alabama Power operates the Holt Project using excess water provided by USACE. Since hydroelectric generation at the Project is considered secondary to USACE’s navigation use, the Project is allowed to use the water from elevation 186 to 187 mean sea level (msl) for turbine operations. Turbine operation is typically peaking to help meet system load demands. The total spillway capacity of the dam is 393,000 cfs at pool elevation 187 ft msl, and 639,500 cfs at pool elevation 206.4 ft msl. The Holt Lock and Dam spillway gates are and have been subject to leakage over the years, but the leakage amount has never been measured by the USACE. Outside of gate leakage, the primary paths for water releases are through powerhouse turbine discharges during hydroelectric generation by Alabama Power, spills via the spillway gates, and operation of the navigation lock. Alabama Power has historically kept records of all turbine discharge and spill data. However, USACE operates the locks and keep records of all data regarding navigations lockage. During 2010, an average of 95 lock chamber cycles were recorded monthly. This corresponds to 1,140 lock chamber cycles per year. During each lock chamber cycle, approximately 31.4 million gallons of water is released. This translates to a daily average flow of approximately 154 cfs from lockages during 2010. Rainfall and water flow have no effect on the number of lockages or water required for lockages. In other words, amount of 8 water released from the locks would be same regardless of a year being wet, dry, or normal (pers. com. Danny Hensley USACE – Tuscaloosa Office). Alabama Power’s 2010 data for generation and spillway releases along with average lockage usages are presented in Table 2-1 as day second feet (dsf). The “Total Discharge from Dam” presented in Table 2-1 is the daily average flow for each day during the given month. Additionally, a day-second-foot is the volume of water accumulated in one day by a flow of one cubic foot per second. One day-second-foot is equivalent to approximately 1.9835 acre-feet. It is the flow rate measured in cfs averaged out over 1 day.
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