Ohio Company to Build Power Plant at Tygart Dam
The State Journal
15 May 2016
By Jim Ross
No one from Advanced Hydro Solutions was available to talk about
the project, but the company’s website says construction on the
$60 million project will begin as soon as the balance of
permitting has been completed.
The Tygart Dam was built for flood control purposes and was
completed in 1938. It includes a conduit that was part of the
original construction to accommodate the possibility of future
hydroelectric generation. The conduit currently is plugged.
FERC issued the construction license to Tygart LLC, a subsidiary
of AHS, April 29.
The project will include a new steel intake structure, a new
121-foot-long by 99-foot-wide concrete powerhouse containing two
vertical generator units, a new excavated 60-foot-wide by
160-foot-long tailrace, a new 1.55-mile-long, 138-kilovolt
transmission line and two new switchyards.
Operation of the power plant will be controlled remotely. The
plant is expected to generate about 108,600 megawatt-hours of
electricity annually.
The project boundary encloses about 1 acre of land owned and
managed by the Pittsburgh District of the U.S. Army Corps of
Engineers and about 7 acres of privately owned land, including
land needed for the transmission line right-of-way. The
construction license requires Tygart LLC to improve parking,
install trash receptacles and provide restrooms at the informal
tailrace access area located on the west side of the Tygart River,
provided that Tygart is able to obtain sufficient rights to
construct and maintain these amenities.
Tygart also is required to monitor water quality upstream and
downstream of the power plant, provide annual monetary
reimbursement to the West Virginia Division of Natural Resources
for fish killed because of the project’s operation, construct a
fishing pier at the tailrace access area on the left bank
downstream of the dam, extend the existing Grafton City Park boat
ramp by 30 feet and build two parking spaces at the ramp.