On July 1, 2016, Prineville Energy Storage LLC (Prineville) and Ochoco Irrigation District (Ochoco) filed preliminary permit applications, pursuant to section 4(f) of the Federal Power Act, proposing to study the feasibility of a hydropower project at the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' (Corps) Prineville Reservoir and Arthur Bowman Dam, located on the Crooked River near the City of Prineville in Crook County, Oregon. The sole purpose of a preliminary permit, if issued, is to grant the permit holder priority to file a license application during the permit term. A preliminary permit does not authorize the permit holder to perform any land-disturbing activities or otherwise enter upon lands or waters owned by others without the owners' express permission.
Prineville's project would be a pumped storage project that uses the Corps' Prineville Reservoir as the lower reservoir. The project would consist of the following new facilities: (1) A 40-foot-high, 7,700-foot-long concrete-faced rockfill embankment creating a 64-acre upper reservoir; (2) a 15-foot-diameter, 1,400-foot-long low pressure tunnel; (3) two 11-foot-diameter, 1,880-foot-long high pressure conduit; (4) a powerhouse with two 100-megawatt (MW) reversible pump turbines located 365 feet west of the Prineville Reservoir; (5) a tailrace; and (6) a 16-mile-long, 115-kilovolt (kV) transmission line interconnecting with the Ponderosa substation. The Prineville Project would have an average annual generation of 525,600 megawatt-hours (MWh).
Ochoco's Bowman Dam Project would be a conventional project that uses the Corps' existing intake structure at the Bowman Dam and Prineville Reservoir, and the following new facilities: (1) A 10-foot-diameter, 310-foot-long steel pipe inserted into the Corps' existing intake tunnel; (2) a valve chamber; (3) a 9-foot-diameter, 108.44-foot-long steel penstock; (4) a powerhouse with one 3-MW and one 1-MW Francis turbine/
Deadline for filing comments, motions to intervene, competing applications (without notices of intent), or notices of intent to file competing applications: 60 Days from the issuance of this notice. Competing applications and notices of intent must meet the requirements of 18 CFR 4.36.
The Commission strongly encourages electronic filing. Please file comments, motions to intervene, notices of intent, and competing applications using the Commission's eFiling system at
More information about this project, including a copy of the application, can be viewed or printed on the “eLibrary” link of the Commission's Web site at