Swift 1 P-2111
General information | |
Waterway |
Lewis River |
Current status | Active license  |
Type of facility | Conventional Hydro |
Mode of hydropower generation | Run-of-river |
Type of permit | FERC License |
FERC information | |
FERC docket # | P-2111 |
FERC project name | Swift No. 1 |
Permit issued | 6/21/08 |
Permit expiration | 5/27/58 |
Ownership and operation | |
Owner | PacifiCorp |
Owner type | Investor-Owned Utility |
Year first online (conventional hydro) | 1958 |
Transmission or distribution system owner | PacifiCorp |
Power and generating capacity | |
Number of units | 3 |
Total capacity from hydraulic turbine-generator units within each plant | 240.0 MW |
Average annual net hydropower generation | 678,888.2 MWH |
The Swift No. 1 (P-2111) obtained its license in combination with three other projects: Yale (P-2071), Merwin (P-935), and Swift No. 2 (P-2213). Collectively, these projects have once license are known as Lewis River Projects.
PacifiCorp’s Swift No. 1 Project is the furthest upstream and largest project in the Lewis River system.
The project includes a 412-foot-high, 2,100-foot-long embankment structure, impounding an 11.5-mile-long, 4,600-acre reservoir
Fish Passage
The 2004 settlement agreement stipulated that PacifiCorp must provide fish passage facilities to allow anadromous fish to move through each of the three project reservoirs by their own volition – opening up over 170 miles of spawning habitat.
In 2016, the utility convinced National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) and United States Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) that habitat restoration could provide equivalent benefits to fish passage at a lower cost. Despite the significant scientific and technical information disputing this conclusion, NMFS and USFWS issued a determination that deemed fish passage “inappropriate” four years later. The federal agencies stated that PacifiCorp would likely not need to build two of the proposed facilities and could defer a decision to build the other two facilities until 2031 and 2035.
In 2021, NMFS and USFWS reversed this decision in dual determinations upholding the licensee requirement to build fish passage at Yale and Merwin Dams by June 26, 2025.
NMFS and USFWS determination on fish passage requirement at Yale Dam (Oct 2021)
NMFS and USFWS determination on fish passage requirement at Merwin Dam (Dec 2021)
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Related posts
- From American Rivers 12/03/20
Bringing Back Lewis River Salmon
News and updates
From California Sportfishing Protection Alliance11/24/2024
From Hydropower Reform Coalition11/19/2024
Monthly Newsletter: Exploring FERC-Exempt Hydro Projects: Small-Scale Hydropower with Big Impacts