Overview
Boott Hydropower, LLC (Boott) owns and operates the Lowell Hydroelectric project (FERC No. 2790), which is licensed by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). The current operating license for the Lowell Project was issued on May 1, 1973 and expires on April 30, 2023. Boott will file its application with FERC for a new license for continued project operation no later than April 30, 2021. As part of this relicensing process, Boott is conducting a series of resource studies to enable FERC to prepare its environmental review document and develop a new operating license.
Location
The Project is located on the Merrimack River in the City of Lowell, Middlesex County, Massachusetts, with an impoundment extending into Hillsborough County, New Hampshire.
Project Components
Pawtucket Dam
a 1,093-foot-long, 15-foot-high masonry gravity dam (Pawtucket Dam) that includes a 980.5-foot-long spillway with a crest elevation of 92.2 feet National Geodetic Vertical Datum 1929 (NGVD 29) and five 5-foot-high pneumatically-operated crest gates
Impoundment
a 720-acre impoundment with a normal maximum water surface elevation of 92.2 feet NGVD 29
Canal System
a 5.5-mile-long canal system (Northern and Pawtucket Canal System) that includes several small dams and a gatehouse
Intake Facilities
two intake facilities
Powerhouses
a powerhouse (E.L Field) that uses water from the Northern Canal and contains two turbine-generator units with a total installed capacity of 15 MW and,
four powerhouses (Assets, Bridge Street, Hamilton, and John Street) housed in nineteenth century mill buildings along the Northern and Pawtucket Canal System containing fifteen turbine-generator units with a total installed capacity of 5.164 MW
Channel
a 440-foot-long tailrace channel
Transmission
a 1.9-mile-long, 13.8-kilovolt transmission line connecting the powerhouses to the regional distribution grid
Fish Passages
upstream and downstream fish passage facilities, including a fish elevator and downstream fish bypass at the E.L. Field powerhouse, and a vertical-slot fish ladder at the Pawtucket dam; and appurtenant facilities