Banks Lake Pumped Storage Project still in works
Last updated 3/4/2021 at 2:40pm
The Banks Lake Pumped Storage Project, which would bring an estimated 1,000-2,000 workers to the area during construction and add an extra 500 megawatts of hydropower electricity per hour, is still in the works, if a little Covid delayed.
Secretary Manager Darvin Fales of Columbia Basin Hydropower spoke to The Star on the phone Tuesday, with an update on the project for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic began.
The gravity-feed system would power two 250-megawatt generating units, or 500 megawatts total, utilizing one or two penstock pipes, up to 35 feet in diameter. Those would run 300 feet underground between the North Dam area on Banks Lake to Lake Roosevelt within the buoy line behind the Grand Coulee Dam.
The system would run by draining water from Banks Lake, back down to Lake Roosevelt, turning generators in the process, then later pumping the water back up to Banks Lake.
CBH previously estimated breaking ground in 2022. That would now be more likely to happen in late 2025 or early 2026, Fales said, explaining that CBH has to meet requirements with the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation and that the COVID-19 pandemic has delayed things by an estimated six months.
"At the end of 2023, if we have met all requirements, Reclamation will issue a lease for a couple of years to get final design, and essentially by the end of that we'll be into construction" if all goes well, Fales said.
In addition to USBR approval, the project also currently needs approval from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. Although there is a possibility of legislation passing that would scale back the FERC approval process, Fales explained, it's not currently in any congressional bills.
With an estimated year to year-and-a-half construction time, the project would be finished near the end of 2027 or the beginning of 2028, when there could be somewhere between 50 and 200 permanent jobs after construction, Fales said, emphasizing that these are still early estimates and that the design process is only about 10% complete.
Fales said the USBR could award a two-year preliminary "Lease of Power Privilege" sometime in April of this year at the earliest, and that in that two-year period CBH would do necessary studies and figure out details related to water rights and more.
Design work is being done, Fales said, with "details that need hammered out," and "a lot of balls in the air."
Fales estimated the odds of the project happening to be from "good to very good." He said people at the USBR have been "cooperative and good communicators, keeping us up to speed on the process."
"I wouldn't say that they're big advocators of the project, but they aren't against it," Fales said. "They're pretty neutral, not trying to stop it or promote it."
Fales said the project wouldn't affect fishing in the Crescent Bay area, but that it could cause "some interruptions" in the North Dam Park area.
He also said that the generators, which could run 9-10 hours a day, wouldn't cause any noticeable effect in water levels on Banks Lake and certainly not on Lake Roosevelt.
Addressing the issue of where to put the earth dug out for the tunnels, Fales said one possibility would be building jetties on Banks Lake - strips of land going into the lake - from which fishermen could possibly fish.
Where the 1,000-2,000 estimated workers on the construction project would live is still an issue that would need to be addressed.
Ultimately, Fales feels, the project would create a lot of "win-wins" for the community, as well as for the power grid.
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