Agency leaders and stakeholders have until May 26 to submit comments to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, or FERC, regarding the “pre-application document” for a proposed $2 billion pumped-hydro-storage clean energy project that could be built southeast of Craig.

On March 27, around 40 people attended or listened remotely to a meeting hosted at Colorado Northwestern Community College that provided updated information on the project proposed by Salt Lake City-based rPlus Hydro. The presentation at the joint agency meeting included an overview of the project and operations and a review of information in the FERC pre-application document.

The meeting outlined proposed studies to be conducted by rPlus Hydro for the FERC licensing process and provided agency representatives and stakeholders the opportunity to give feedback. A smaller group attended an afternoon tour at the proposed site.

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Developer rPlus Hydro, which has built solar and wind projects in Utah and Idaho, wants to build the utility-scale energy storage facility to provide flexible generating capacity, electricity grid support and the ability to store energy until needed by utilities. The project would provide dispatched power to the grid that could supplement wind and solar projects that offer intermittent power depending on sun and wind conditions.

Matthew Shapiro, managing director of hydro strategy at rPlus Hydro, said the value of the project, although expensive and complex to develop, is a long lifespan of up 100 years and a longer utility-scale battery storage capacity of up to eight hours.

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“It takes vision and patience to develop pumped storage, and we have high hopes for it,” said Shapiro, who has been helping to develop clean energy projects since 2009. “To us, this type of project in this location makes a great deal of sense for the grid and for the state of Colorado.”

The end goal of the 600-megawatt closed-loop pumped storage hydro project in Moffat County would be to sell electricity generated via hydro-power turbines to utility companies such as Xcel Energy, which operates the Hayden Station and Tri-State Generation & Transmission Association, which operates Craig Station, Shapiro said.

The project could power 120,000 to 250,000 homes, depending on the season and time of day, for the eight-hour storage duration, Shapiro said. The company is also developing other pumped hydro projects including the 900-megawatt Seminoe Pumped Storage Project in Carbon County, Wyoming.

Xcel already utilizes a pumped-storage hydroelectric plant at Cabin Creek south of Georgetown where water from an upper reservoir flows through a 4,300-foot tunnel to turn generators that produce a peak of 324 megawatts.

“The need for this kind of project is clear,” Shapiro said, noting the benefits to electricity grid reliability and domestic energy independence.

Moffat County Commissioner Tony Bohrer said county leaders have been communicating with the clean energy company for about four years. He said he sees no negative indicators for the project so far and that the project could add to the county tax base and create job growth.

“There’s a lot of work and lots of things to get through, but we hope, if it’s great for Moffat County, it comes to fruition,” Bohrer said.

The Utah company is working with six private landowners to obtain land and water tunnel pathway access from the Yampa River to the project site located approximately 7 miles southeast of Craig off Moffat County Road 113.

Shapiro said water use from the Yampa River would not be extensive at 4,000 acre-feet of initial fill for the project’s lower reservoir, plus some 600 acre-feet of water annually to account for evaporation and seepage from two new reservoirs on 170 acres. The goal would be to use a portion of the water rights already owned by the coal-fired power plants, Shapiro said.

By comparison, the standard volume of Stagecoach Reservoir is 31,578 acre-feet with a total reservoir surface area of 819 acres.

The majority of the pumped-hydro system would be located underground, including a below-ground powerhouse with three pump-turbine units with generation capacity of 200 megawatts each. The project would consist of one upper and one lower reservoir joined by 2.5 miles of underground water tunnels, an above-ground switchyard, access tunnel, tailrace surge chamber and accessary facilities.

An electric transmission line from the project would run either 11 miles to Craig or less than 2 miles to a Western Area Power Administration line, Shapiro said. Target completion of the licensing process is estimated for 2028, with construction from 2029 to 2033, Shapiro said.

Within the past two years, rPlus Hydro has completed a geological site screening study and a Reconnaissance-level Engineering Study. In addition, a Socio-Economic Impact Study was prepared for Moffat County and completed in 2024 using funding provided by the Colorado Office of Just Transition.

The pre-application document for the Craig-Hayden Pumped Storage Project was filed with the FERC in December. Community members can review the project materials filed to date online at ELibrary.ferc.gov. Using the search tool, users can enter the Docket Number P-15043 and change the “select date range” to “all.”

The current comment window is an opportunity for agencies and stakeholders to consider the project’s proposed operation and protection, mitigation and enhancement measures and to evaluate the need for any changes or additional measures, studies or sources of data from the project applicant.

As the process continues, exploratory work at the site within the next few years would include test pits, shallow bore holes and then deep bore holes, Shapiro said. Project questions can be directed to Shapiro at mshapiro@rplusenergies.com.