In 2010, Juneau Hydropower started down a long regulatory road to obtain a license from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. Now, six years and several million dollars later, the company has that license in hand.<\/p>\n
On Thursday afternoon, the federal commission granted Juneau Hydropower a license for its Sweetheart Lake Hydroelectric Project, which \u201cmeans a lot\u201d if you ask Keith Comstock, the company\u2019s owner and CEO.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s the big one,\u201d he told the Empire in a phone interview Thursday. \u201cThat\u2019s the hydropower license that allows us to own and operate a hydropower facility.\u201d<\/p>\n
Beyond that, however, the FERC license allows Juneau Hydropower to move beyond the remaining regulatory safeguards standing between the company and construction.<\/p>\n
The company has essentially completed the roughly 25 preliminary environmental plans that it needs to file \u2014 such as a Bear Safety Plan for the U.S. Forest Service. Regulatory agencies wouldn\u2019t sign off on any of these plans until the company had its FERC license.<\/p>\n
[Juneau Hydropower secures permit for Sweetheart Lake<\/a>]<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve moved from a speculative or a hopeful project to a real licensed project; that\u2019s a big difference,\u201d Comstock said. \u201cIt\u2019s like we graduated high school, and we\u2019re off to college now.\u201d<\/p>\n College, as far as Juneau Hydropower is concerned, is securing power purchase agreements, finalizing loans and equity investments, negotiating contracts; the list goes on. And that\u2019s before the company can build its 19.8-megawatt facility comprising a 280-foot wide concrete dam and three 7.1-megawatt turbines (among other things) at Sweetheart Lake.<\/p>\n There is much work yet to be done before the company can start generating power, but Comstock said he is happy to make it has far as he has. About eight out of 10 projects that begin the FERC licensing process never obtain the license they are seeking, Comstock said. That\u2019s an anecdotal statistic was furnished by FERC officials, though, which Comstock said he wasn\u2019t able to corroborate.<\/p>\n \u201cJust getting here was kind of a long shot,\u201d he said, and it wasn\u2019t inexpensive either.<\/p>\n Comstock said Juneau Hydropower has already invested millions in this project \u2014 though he wouldn\u2019t be more specific than that.<\/p>\n \u201cIt wasn\u2019t cheap, but we think we got really good value because we used local people wherever we could,\u201d Comstock said.<\/p>\n \u2022 Contact reporter Sam DeGrave at 523-2279 or sam.degrave@juneauempire.com.<\/p>\n Read more news:<\/strong><\/p>\n Update: Missing UAS student with autism found on John Muir Trail<\/a><\/p>\n In solidarity with Standing Rock, Juneau rally opposes Dakota Access pipeline<\/a><\/p>\n