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<br />" <br />.~ <br />~ <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />~ <br />!7r7 /<--C <br />-S~3/gg <br /> <br />Colorado Water Conservation Board <br />Department of Natural Resources, State of Colorado <br /> <br />SAN MIGUEL WATER CONSERVANCY DISTRICf <br /> <br />SAN MIGUEL CANYON PROJECf <br /> <br />Investigation of a pumped storage hydroelectric facility in San Miguel Canyon as an optional feature of the San <br />Miguel Project was recently added to the scope of the study. The potential San Miguel Canyon Project site was <br />initially investigated by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation. The SMWCD holds water rights that could potentially <br />lbe used to implement the project. <br /> <br />A pumped storage hydroelectric installation generally consists of two reservoirs located a short distance apart. <br />Water is released from the upper reservoir to generate electricity during the work day and early evening when <br />electrical power demand is at its peak. When electrical demand is low, at night and weekends, water is pumped <br />from the lower reservoir to refill the upper reservoir. Pumped-storage hydropower is fmancially attractive in <br />many instances because the peak-demand energy is much more valuable than the off-peak energy used to refill <br />the upper reservoir. The shorter the distance between reservoirs in relation to the elevation difference, the <br />greater the potential financial return. <br /> <br />Location <br /> <br />A potential site for an upper reservoir of 4,000 to 6,000 acre-feet capacity is located about 2.8 miles northwest of <br />Norwood, on the bluff along the south side of the San Miguel River, see Figure 1, It is approximately 2,000 feet <br />distant from the lower reservoir site on the river and about 700 feet above it. This relation of horizontal and <br />vertical lengths falls within the criteria of sites which have been found to be financially attractive for the <br />generation of pumped storage hydroelectric power. Figure 2 is a schematic illustration of the San Miguel <br />Canyon Project. Reservoir and turbine characteristics are presented in Table 1. <br /> <br />Transmission Canacitv <br /> <br />Major electrical transmission lines operated jointly by the Western Area Power Administration ('NAPA) and <br />the Colorado-Ute Electric Association (Colorado Ute) pass close to the San Miguel Canyon site. These lines <br />form part of a transmission network interconnected with other Rocky Mountain utilities and also <br />interconnected in the Four Corners area with both the California-Southern Nevada and the Arizona-New <br />Mexico Power Areas. Adequate transmission capacity appears to be available from the project site to the Four <br />Corners area. EnsUling adequate transmission capacity from the F cur Corners area to the power markets will <br />require working in close cooperation with W AP A. With this intertie network, it appears that project power <br />could be marketed anyplace in the Southwestern United States. <br /> <br />Use of transmission lines to transport electricity to market utilities is compensated by transportation or <br />"wheeling" charges. Colorado Ute reports wheeling charges in the range of $0,001 to $0.01 per kilowatt-hour <br />(kWh) in 'Interconnection Policy for Cogenerators and Small Power Producers", April 1985. <br /> <br />Page 1 <br />