Key to remember about any Federal Energy Regulatory Commission preliminary permit: it is an important first step for a pumped storage project. It is not permission to build.
What it does
- Secures first-to-file priority for a license application for up to four years, with one extension of up to four more.
- Gives the developer time to study feasibility, engineering, and environmental conditions.
What it does not do
- Authorize construction or any land-disturbing activity.
- Grant access to land the developer does not own or control.
- Guarantee a license.
What comes next
- A Notice of Intent and Pre-Application Document open the Integrated Licensing Process.
- Two to three years of scoping, stakeholder consultation, and studies produce a final license application.
- The developer negotiates mitigation measures with resource agencies, tribes, and other stakeholders, often through a settlement agreement.
- FERC then completes its environmental review while the developer secures state water quality certification and other approvals, typically about two more years.
- FERC issues the license, which sets the terms, conditions, and mitigation requirements the project must meet.
- The developer completes final design and files final plans, specifications, and a supporting design report with FERC's Division of Dam Safety and Inspections at least sixty days before construction.
- FERC authorizes the start of construction only after its engineers review the design and confirm all pre-construction requirements are met.
Construction generally must begin within two years of license issuance, though FERC can extend that deadline.
Bottom line: permit to groundbreaking is rarely less than five years.
Sources:
- Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, Preliminary Permits
- FERC, Extending the term of a preliminary permit
- FERC, Integrated Licensing Process pre-filing steps
- FERC, Dam Safety Program
Originally posted on LinkedIn.
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