Pelton – Round Butte Project Relicensing

Client: The Confederated Tribes of the Warm Springs Indian Reservation of Oregon and Warm Springs Power Enterprises
Project: Pelton-Round Butte Project Relicensing

NRCE provided technical assistance in the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) Relicensing Proceedings for the Pelton-Round Butte Project, Deschutes River, Oregon. NRCE performed hydrologic analyses of the Deschutes River Basin that were incorporated in the Confederated Tribes’ Final License Application. NRCE has assisted the Tribes in the development of the proposed minimum flows for the project.

NRCE also developed a tool used to forecast streamflows at the Pelton-Round Butte Hydropower Project. This streamflow forecasting tool uses principal component analysis (PCA) to develop a statistical relationship between data such as snowpack, precipitation, antecedent streamflow, and climatic indicators including the El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) and future streamflows for periods as far as nine months in advance. These forecasts can be used to maximize hydropower generation through enhanced reservoir operations. Predictions of streamflow are also used to predict hydropower generation, which can be used for planning and budgeting purposes.