Gordon_Butte_Pumped_Storage_Project

Gordon Butte Pumped Storage Project

Gordon Butte Pumped Storage Project

Planned energy facility in Montana, United States

The Gordon Butte Pumped Storage Project is a planned pumped hydroelectric storage facility that will be located in Martinsdale, Montana.

The facility will be owned and operated by Absaroka Energy, which submitted a license application for the project to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission in 2015.[1] The agency approved the request in December 2016, following a September decision of no environmental impact, granting Absaroka a 50-year license to operate Gordon Butte.[2]

Gordon Butte will be located on a 177 acres (0.72 km2) site, and will have access to water from Cottonwood Creek, a tributary of the Musselshell River.[2] The facility will operate as a closed-loop system, without actively drawing or discharging water into the watershed.[1] It will have a 4,000 acre-foot capacity reservoir, located 1,000 feet (300 m) above the base,[1] with a power generation capacity of about 400 MW.[2][3]

According to Absaroka, construction was planned to begin in 2018 or later, after design and engineering work is completed and financing is obtained.[2] The construction cost is projected to be $986 million, and once in operation the annual operating cost will be $173 million to generate power with an estimated value of $220 million.[2]

In 2019 Danish investment group Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners made a significant equity investment in the project[4] which was thought to allow construction to begin in 2020.[5] As of 2020, construction was estimated to begin in 2025 and be completed by 2029.[6]

References

  1. [1]
    "Proposed pumped storage project aims to add reliability to electrical grid". Billings Gazette. September 1, 2016. Retrieved December 23, 2016.
  2. [2]
    "License Issued for $1B Montana Power Storage Project". ABC News. December 22, 2016. Retrieved December 23, 2016.
  3. [3]
    "Project Overview". Gordon Butte Energy Park. Retrieved 2021-05-11.
  4. [4]
    Driscol, William (10 July 2019). "Enormous Montana pumped hydro project gets Danish investment". pv-magazine-usa.com. PV Magazine. Retrieved 8 August 2019.
  5. [5]
    Brown, Matthew (12 July 2019). "Montana energy storage project lines up financial partner". phys.org. Retrieved 6 September 2019.
  6. [6]
    ORDER GRANTING EXTENSION OF TIME TO COMMENCE AND COMPLETE CONSTRUCTION PURSUANT TO ARTICLE 301 (PDF) (Report). Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. July 31, 2020. Retrieved 2022-08-29.
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