Northfield Pumped Storage Project
FirstLight Hydro Generating Company (FirstLight) sought consulting services for the Northfield Mountain Pumped Storage Project and Turners Falls Hydroelectric Project associated with the FERC relicensing process. The projects are located on the Connecticut River, with portions of the projects being located within three states: Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Vermont. The projects operate as joint-use facilities, with the 68 MW Turner Falls Project impoundment serving as the lower reservoir for the 1,119 MW Northfield Mountain Pumped Storage Facility.
Kleinschmidt, teamed with Gomez and Sullivan and TRC Companies, Inc., is providing environmental and relicensing services. The relicensing process for these facilities is ongoing with a revised license application to be filed in 2020. Issues identification and stakeholder study requests identified several ecological issues of concern to be evaluated during the relicensing process. These include erosion, fish entrainment, and upstream/downstream assage, bypass reach and downstream flows, aquatic and terrestrial habitat, recreation, cultural resources, and threatened and endangered species. Stakeholders include river and watershed management organizations, local governments, state and federal resource agencies, and the general public.
As part of the FirstLight relicensing team, Kleinschmidt contributes valuable experience in addressing environmental issues unique to pumped storage projects such as the effects of pumping operations on the mainstem river. Our project staff has a long history of working on the Connecticut River, particularly with the fish passage and habitat needs for various aquatic species, including the endangered shortnose sturgeon, which utilizes habitat within project waters.