Plans for the construction of a 1,000-acre dam and power turbine on the Susquehanna River in York County, Pennsylvania, have been announced. The plans were announced by York Energy Storage.
The business from Reading, Pennsylvania submitted an application in February to carry out a hydropower plant feasibility assessment. According to WGAL, the application is incomplete. The corporation, however, has time to resubmit, according to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.
The region has seen other proposals for dams before this one. In 1990 and 2011, proposals of a similar nature faced strong opposition and were ultimately abandoned.
The development and expectations for the 1,000-acre dam and power turbine on the Susquehanna River in York County
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The US$2.1 billion project involves the construction of a 1.9-mile-long, 225-foot-high dam and two smaller dikes. The project also includes flooding works of 600 acres to create a new reservoir.
The facility would serve as a form of energy storage that may be used when wind or solar power is not available. Water is pushed uphill to a reservoir utilizing excess power produced during peak hours. When there is a power shortfall, that water travels through turbines to generate energy. This process is known as “pumped storage.”
York Energy Storage has praised the advantages of the clean energy the project would generate for the 13-state regional power system. This is despite the fact that such dam and reservoir developments still have an adverse environmental impact.
The new plant could produce up to 8,560 megawatt-hours in a 10-hour cycle. This would be sufficient to power a city of 500,000 people. According to York Energy Storage, it would take some time to finish the facility, and it would have a lifespan of more than 50 years.
