Indiana Michigan Power Company (I&M or Licensee), a unit of American Electric Power (AEP), is the Licensee, owner, and operator of the run-of-river, 1,200-kilowatt (kW) Constantine Hydroelectric Project (Project) (Project No. 10661), located on the St. Joseph River in the Village of Constantine in St. Joseph County, Michigan. The reservoir formed by the Project is approximately six miles long. On October 17, 1873, the St. Joseph County Board of Supervisors granted approval to construct a dam across the St. Joseph River to the Constantine Hydraulic Company. The Constantine Hydraulic Company operated the hydroelectric plant through 1917. The Project was purchased by Michigan Gas and Electric Company, the predecessor to I&M, in 1917 and subsequently placed under their operation.
The licensed Project works consist of: 1) an uncontrolled concrete gravity overflow spillway dam with a height of about 12 feet, a total length of 241.25 feet, including an abandoned 4-foot-wide fish chute at the left abutment which is now a sluice gate, and topped with 11-ΒΌ-inch-high flashboards; 2) a reinforced-concrete headgate structure 68 feet long and 20 feet high containing seven wooden gates about 7.75 feet wide by 15 feet high; 3) a 70-foot-long earthen embankment between the headgate structure and overflow spillway; 4) an earthfill reservoir impoundment dike with a maximum height of about 20 feet and a length of 650 feet located about 1,500 feet east from the left abutment of the main dam; 5) a reservoir with a surface area of 525 acres at a normal water surface elevation of 782.94 feet, National Geodetic Vertical Datum (NGVD); 6) a 1,270-foot-long power canal with a bottom width of 60 feet; 7) a brick powerhouse with dimensions of 140 feet by 30 feet containing four vertical-shaft Francis turbines c onnected to four 300-kilowatt (kW) generating units for a total installed capacity of 1,200 kW; 8) a switchyard adjacent to the powerhouse containing three step-up transformers; 9) a 2.4-kilovolt (kV) transmission line about 50 feet long; and 10) appurtenant facilities and equipment.
The current operating license for the Project expires on September 30, 2023. In accordance with FERC's regulations, I&M must file its application for a new license with FERC no later than September 30, 2021.
