Project Location and Operations

Appendix 3

Project Location and Operations

The Dodge Falls Associates hydroelectric facility (the DF Facility) is located at river Mile 268 on the Connecticut River in the towns of Bath, New Hampshire and Ryegate, Vermont (see Appendix 3-1). The hydroelectric station was constructed at the site of the existing Dodge Falls dam. The dam (“DF dam” or “Ryegate dam”) was used until 1966 to provide waterpower to a paper mill located on the Vermont side of the river. From 1966 until 1990 process water was supplied to the paper mill with excess flow discharged over the dam. When the Dodge Falls project began operation in 1990, most of the river flow then was used for hydroelectric generation with the paper mill receiving up to 5 cfs for process use. In 2000 the paper mill was shutdown and papermaking machinery was removed from the mill. The dam is 485 feet long and consists of a grouted, rock fill, timber crib with a timber crest and wood plank facing. The crest elevation of the dam is 421.4 feet NGVD and is about 15.5 feet above the bedrock streambed at the downstream toe. Initially the project was authorized to install 2 feet of pin supported wooden flashboards to reestablish the historic level of the impoundment.

In 1988 construction began on the DF project and was completed in 1990. The DF project consists of a reinforced concrete powerhouse located on the New Hampshire side of the river with a 75-foot side concrete spillway constructed on the right side of the fore bay. The spillway is connected to the timber crib dam.

The Df project was operated from 1990 to 1993 using pin supported wooden flashboards. In 1993 a two-foot rubber pneumatic flashboard system was installed on the concrete spillway to replace a portion of the pin supported wooden flashboard system. In 1997 a two-foot rubber pneumatic flashboard system was installed on the timber crib dam to replace the remaining wooden flashboards. A single double regulated 5000 kW Escher Wyse turbine, rated at 12 feet of head and a flow of 5800 cfs, is installed in the powerhouse.

The DF Facility is operated as a run of river facility. Reservoir level is maintained by means of a pond level control system. The project is required to maintain a minimum flow of 1108 cfs (0.5 csm) or project inflow, whichever is less. The DF Facility is located immediately downstream of the Fifteen Mills Falls Hydroelectric Project (“the FMF project”)(FERC # 2077). The FMF project consists of three separate dams and powerhouses located upstream from the DF project. The closest FMF project, the McIndoes power station, is located approximately 4 miles upstream of the DF project. Since the DF project is a run of river project, available river flow for the DF project is determined by discharge from the McIndoes project.