ROANOKE, Va., March 28, 2008 –Appalachian Power has filed an application with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) for a new license to continue operation of the Smith Mountain Project (FERC No. 2210) located on the Roanoke River in Bedford, Campbell, Franklin and Pittsylvania counties of Virginia.
 
The existing license for the hydroelectric project expires in March 2010, almost fifty years after Smith Mountain and Leesville dams were completed.

The company began pre-application work for a new license in 2002.
 
Contained within the application are descriptions of the project components, discussions of operations, assessments and studies of the project’s environment, discussions of project costs and economics and proposed management plans for the project.
 
Eight copies of the application, comprising 28 separate documents each, were trucked by carrier to Washington Wednesday. About 60 digital versions of the documents were distributed to federal and state agencies, local governments, non-governmental organizations and private citizens involved in the licensing process and related study activities.
 
Copies of the application and study reports will be available soon on the company’s relicensing website, www.smithmtn.com.
 
Appalachian Power will publish public notices confirming the filing and provide additional opportunities for document review by interested parties. FERC will later publish notices to inform the public of activities relating to the application review process and to solicit public participation.
 
Smith Mountain Project is a 636-megawatt pumped storage hydroelectric facility that utilizes an upper reservoir (Smith Mountain Lake) and a lower reservoir (Leesville Lake.)  Water stored in Smith Mountain Lake first passes through turbine-generators in the powerhouse to produce electricity and is discharged into Leesville Lake.  Most of the water is retained in Leesville Lake and pumped back into the Smith Mountain Lake for re-use.  A portion of the water goes through the turbine-generators at the Leesville powerhouse to generate additional electricity and to meet the minimum discharge requirements of the project´s FERC license. 
 
Appalachian Power provides electricity to 1 million customers in Virginia, West Virginia and Tennessee (as AEP Appalachian Power). It is a unit of American Electric Power (NYSE: AEP), one of the largest electric utilities in the United States, with more than 5 million customers in 11 states. AEP ranks among the nation’s largest generators of electricity, owning nearly 38,000 megawatts of generating capacity in the U.S. AEP also owns the nation’s largest electricity transmission system, a nearly 39,000-mile network that includes more 765 kilovolt extra-high voltage transmission lines than all other U.S. transmission systems combined. 
 

 

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