WATER USE AT THE HOLT PROJECT

HOLT HYDROELECTRIC PROJECT FERC NO. 2203

ALABAMA POWER COMPANY BIRMINGHAM,

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

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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.

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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).

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FIGURE 2-1 BLACK WARRIOR RIVER BASIN PROJECTS

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PHOTO 2-1 HOLT LOCK AND DAM AND HOLT PROJECT—POWERHOUSE VISIBLE ON OPPOSITE SIDE OF RIVER

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PHOTO 2-2 HOLT POWERHOUSE, LOOKING DOWNSTREAM

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PHOTO 2-3 ARMY CORPS OF ENGINEER’S HOLT LOCK—VIEW LOOKING UPSTREAM

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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.

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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

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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. Water releases from lock operations is significantly smaller compared to releases through turbine discharges during hydroelectric generation or spilling. A turbine discharge value of 0 for the month typically reflects a period when either river flows were too low to support generation or that the single unit at Holt was out of service at that time. Additional years of turbine discharges and spillway releases are presented in Appendix A. Lockage data was not readily available for those years; however, as lockage does not depend on hydrological conditions, the water released through lockages should remain the same, on average, as long as the river traffic during each year was similar.

TABLE 2-1 2010 WATER RELEASES FROM HOLT LOCK AND DAM – DAY SECOND FEET BY MONTH

TOTAL TURBINE YEAR SPILL DISCHARGE LOCKAGE DISCHARGE 2010 (DSF)* FROM DAM (DSF)* (DSF)* (DSF)* January 7138 7749 14887 154 February 8758 6779 15538 154 March 7024 10359 17383 154 April 5451 3337 8788 154 May 7017 4508 11526 154 June 3050 0 3050 154 July 1722 0 1722 154 August 312 1328 1640 154 September 0 560 560 154 October 0 766 766 154 November 0 1452 1452 154 December 0 2361 2361 154 *dsf = day second feet

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3.0 REFERENCES

Alabama Power Company. 2010. Holt Preliminary Application Document. United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE). 2009a. Black Warrior- Systems. [Online] URL: http://www.sam.usace.army.mil/op/tu/Project_Links.htm. Accessed on December 29, 2009. United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE). 2009b. Holt Lake: Overview. [Online] URL: http://bwt.sam.usace.army.mil/Holt/. Accessed on December 29, 2009.

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APPENDIX A

TURBINE GENERATION AND SPILLWAY RELEASES 2000 TO 2010

TABLE A-1 2000 WATER RELEASES FROM HOLT DAM – MEAN DAILY AVERAGE BY MONTH

TOTAL TURBINE YEAR SPILL DISCHARGE DISCHARGE 2000 (DSF)* FROM DAM (DSF)* (DSF)* January 4055 0 4055 February 2869 0 2869 March 6437 13022 20630 April 7527 16278 23805 May 1692 0 1692 June 1542 0 1542 July 1234 0 1234 August 1203 0 1203 September 934 0 952 October 18 87 112 November 0 90 90 December 0 5885 5885 * dsf = day second feet

TABLE A-2 2001 WATER RELEASES FROM HOLT DAM - MEAN DAILY AVERAGE BY MONTH

TOTAL TURBINE YEAR SPILL DISCHARGE DISCHARGE 2001 (DSF)* FROM DAM (DSF)* (DSF)* January 0 9341 9341 February 0 11402 11402 March 33 28069 28102 April 0 21942 21942 May 0 6447 6447 June 0 8955 8955 July 0 3555 3555 August 2137 244 2381 September 4547 4738 9285 October 3605 575 4180 November 3166 306 3472 December 7102 9057 16159 * dsf = day second feet

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TABLE A-3 2002 WATER RELEASES FROM HOLT DAM – MEAN DAILY AVERAGE BY MONTH

TOTAL TURBINE YEAR SPILL DISCHARGE DISCHARGE 2002 (DSF)* FROM DAM (DSF)* (DSF)* January 4056 16469 20525 February 6307 6170 12478 March 6798 2090 8888 April 5401 2346 7747 May 6452 5227 11679 June 2462 0 2462 July 3417 0 3417 August 1812 0 1812 September 3137 290 3427 October 4213 215 4427 November 9294 2450 11744 December 9157 5357 14514 * dsf = day second feet

TABLE A-4 2003 WATER RELEASES FROM HOLT DAM – MEAN DAILY AVERAGE BY MONTH

TOTAL TURBINE YEAR SPILL DISCHARGE DISCHARGE 2003 (DSF)* FROM DAM (DSF)* (DSF)* January 7149 268 7416 February 9817 11072 20889 March 9346 9371 18717 April 6255 1140 7394 May 9557 23600 33158 June 5925 447 6372 July 4202 233 4435 August 2608 0 2608 September 2064 15 2079 October 903 0 903 November 2465 0 2465 December 3261 0 3261 * dsf = day second feet

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TABLE A-5 2004 WATER RELEASES FROM HOLT DAM – MEAN DAILY AVERAGE BY MONTH

TOTAL TURBINE YEAR SPILL DISCHARGE DISCHARGE 2004 (DSF)* FROM DAM (DSF)* (DSF)* January 6088 236 6324 February 9888 12984 22872 March 7241 4842 12082 April 2707 0 2707 May 2175 0 2175 June 4939 192 5132 July 5103 51 5154 August 2240 0 2240 September 3540 1645 5185 October 1962 142 2105 November 6557 14074 20631 December 10793 11366 22159 * dsf = day second feet

TABLE A-6 2005 WATER RELEASES FROM HOLT DAM – MEAN DAILY AVERAGE BY MONTH

TOTAL TURBINE YEAR SPILL DISCHARGE DISCHARGE 2005 (DSF)* FROM DAM (DSF)* (DSF)* January 7052 0 7052 February 6626 0 6626 March 7807 908 8714 April 8040 9050 17090 May 2277 0 2277 June 5969 3119 9088 July 6064 1583 7646 August 3079 0 3079 September 2385 0 2385 October 691 0 691 November 557 188 745 December 4138 126 4265 * dsf = day second feet

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TABLE A-7 2006 WATER RELEASES FROM HOLT DAM – MEAN DAILY AVERAGE BY MONTH

TOTAL TURBINE YEAR SPILL DISCHARGE DISCHARGE 2006 (DSF)* FROM DAM (DSF)* (DSF)* January 6501 2676 9177 February 9743 7097 16840 March 6556 1860 8416 April 5760 1140 6900 May 4875 1959 6833 June 1614 0 1614 July 1414 0 1414 August 1475 0 1475 September 1320 0 1320 October 1723 0 1723 November 4184 151 4336 December 2887 669 3556 * dsf = day second feet

TABLE A-8 2007 WATER RELEASES FROM HOLT DAM – MEAN DAILY AVERAGE BY MONTH

TOTAL TURBINE YEAR SPILL DISCHARGE DISCHARGE 2007 (DSF)* FROM DAM (DSF)* (DSF)* January 8200 1515 9715 February 4661 0 4661 March 2560 0 2560 April 1497 0 1497 May 485 0 485 June 788 0 788 July 1366 0 1366 August 1242 0 1242 September 865 0 865 October 100 0 100 November 58 0 58 December 99 0 99 * dsf = day second feet

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TABLE A-9 2008 WATER RELEASES FROM HOLT DAM – MEAN DAILY AVERAGE BY MONTH

TOTAL TURBINE YEAR SPILL DISCHARGE DISCHARGE 2008 (DSF)* FROM DAM (DSF)* (DSF)* January 941 0 941 February 5529 328 5857 March 6135 1300 7434 April 4591 0 4591 May 4063 5102 9165 June 2144 0 2144 July 1576 0 1576 August 2010 0 2010 September 1197 0 1197 October 195 0 195 November 212 0 212 December 7303 2265 9568 * dsf = day second feet

TABLE A-10 2009 WATER RELEASES FROM HOLT DAM – MEAN DAILY AVERAGE BY MONTH

TOTAL TURBINE YEAR SPILL DISCHARGE DISCHARGE 2009 (DSF)* FROM DAM (DSF)* (DSF)* January 8926 13772 22698 February 4185 3403 7588 March 2858 21210 24067 April 1606 13338 14943 May 8835 6723 15558 June 4062 361 4424 July 2048 0 2048 August 2400 10 2411 September 6413 5050 11463 October 8319 10690 19009 November 7464 3446 10910 December 10503 11668 22172 * dsf = day second feet

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TABLE A-11 2010 WATER RELEASES FROM HOLT DAM – MEAN DAILY AVERAGE BY MONTH

TOTAL TURBINE YEAR SPILL DISCHARGE DISCHARGE 2010 (DSF)* FROM DAM (DSF)* (DSF)* January 7138 7749 14887 February 8758 6779 15538 March 7024 10359 17383 April 5451 3337 8788 May 7017 4508 11526 June 3050 0 3050 July 1722 0 1722 August 312 1328 1640 September 0 560 560 October 0 766 766 November 0 1452 1452 December 0 2361 2361 * dsf = day second feet

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APPENDIX B

HOLT RESERVOIR REGULATION MANUAL