The essentials
- On August 9, 2013, President Obama signed into law the Hydropower Regulatory Efficiency Act of 2013, which as the name indicates, seeks to reduce the regulatory burden associated with licensing certain small hydroelectric projects by:
- exempting certain conduit hydropower facilities from the licensing requirements of the Federal Power Act (FPA);
- amending subsection (d) of Section 405 of the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act of 1978 (16 U.S.C. 2705) to define “small hydroelectric power projects” as having an installed capacity that does not exceed 10,000 Kilowatts (prior to the amendment, “small hydroelectric power projects” were defined as having an installed capacity that does not exceed 5,000 Kilowatts);
- authorizing the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to extend the term of preliminary permits once for not more than 2 additional years beyond the 3 years previously allowed under section 5 of the FPA; and
- directing FERC to investigate the feasibility of a 2-year licensing process for hydro power development at non-powered dams and closed-loop pump storage projects.