Deerfield No. 5 P-2323

General information
Waterway	Deerfield River
Current status	Active
Type of facility	Conventional Hydro
Mode of hydropower generation	Peaking
Type of permit	FERC License
FERC information
FERC docket #	P-2323
FERC project name	Deerfield River
Other projects with this FERC number	Somerset Dam P-2323 Sherman P-2323 Searsburg P-2323 Harriman P-2323 Deerfield No. 4 P-2323 Deerfield No. 3 P-2323 Deerfield No. 2 P-2323
Permit issued	3/30/97
Permit expiration	3/27/37
Ownership and operation
Owner	GREAT RIVER HYDRO, LLC.
Owner type	Wholesale Power Marketer
Year first online (conventional hydro)	1974
Transmission or distribution system owner	Western Massachusetts Electric Company
Power and generating capacity
Number of units	1
Total capacity from hydraulic turbine-generator units within each plant	17.5 mW
Average annual net hydropower generation	52,192.9 mWH

Photo by Mark Zakutansky

The Deerfield Project is on the Deerfield River, running along the border of Massachusetts and Vermont. Nine hydropower dams make up this project, which received a new license in 1997.

Water diversions once made 12 of the 66 river miles of the Deerfield barren. After minimum flow requirements were placed in the license, water has returned to these dry reaches in seasonally variant flows.
Operational changes enhanced the stabilization of reservoir levels, encouraging the growth of fish and bird populations.
Before the new license, dam operations caused unnatural fluctuating flows in 33 miles of the river.
Since relicensing, recreation has swelled beyond expectation. New operations held special flow releases and kept water in the river for boating.
The dam owner also agreed to protect local lands from aggravations such as soil erosion or excessive nutrient depletion, and to manage their flows to protect wildlife habitat.

Deerfield No. 5 is the put-in for the Deerfield River Dryway whitewater run.

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