March 6, 2025: The Low Impact Hydropower Institute has received a complete application for Low Impact Certification of the Skelton Hydroelectric Project.  LIHI is seeking public comment on this application.  Specifically, we are interested in knowing whether you think the Project meets the LIHI Low Impact Certification Criteria, as revised in the 2nd Edition Handbook in effect at the time of initial applicaton.  Please review the program and criteria in LIHI’s Handbook Revision 2.05, and then review the Project’s application materials below.

Comments that are directly tied to specific LIHI criteria (flows, water quality, fish passage, etc.) will be most helpful, but all comments will be considered.  Comments may be submitted to the Institute by e-mail at comments@lowimpacthydro.org with “Skelton Project Comments” in the subject line, or by mail addressed to the Low Impact Hydropower Institute, 68 Harrison Ave Ste 605, PMB 113938 Boston, Massachusetts 02111-1929.  Comments must be received on or before 5 pm Eastern time on May 5, 025 to be considered.  All comments will be posted to the web site and the applicant will have an opportunity to respond.  Any response will also be posted.

The Skelton Project (FERC No. 2527) is located on the Saco River in York County, Maine, about 11.1 river miles above the head-of-tide at Saco and 16 river miles from the mouth of the river at Camp Ellis/Hills Beach. The Project dam and powerhouse are located in the Towns of Buxton and Dayton, Maine. The impoundment is located in the Towns of Buxton, Dayton, and Hollis. The Project is the second dam on the Saco River and one of seven hydroelectric projects located on the main stem of the river.

The Project consists of a 1,695-foot-long concrete gravity and earth embankment dam topped with a roadway and was originally constructed from 1947-1949.  The dam consists of: (1) an earthen embankment section, 1,200 feet long by 59 feet high, with a crest elevation of 143.0 feet (USGS); (2) a west bulkhead and spillway gate section, about 170 feet long by 75 feet high, surmounted with four Tainter gates, each 32.5 feet wide by 20 feet high, with a sill elevation of 108.0 feet (USGS); (3) an intake structure, 107 feet long by 146 feet wide, has two inflow openings, protected by trashracks of 5/8-inch steel bars at 3-inch openings; (4) a fishway and sluice section, about 30 feet long; (5) an east bulkhead and spillway gate section, about 188 feet long by 75 feet high, surmounted with four Tainter gates, each 32.5 feet wide by 20 feet high, with a sill elevation of 108.0 feet (USGS); and (6) a concrete retaining wall, traversing along the western embankment about 763 feet long, with a crest elevation of 143.0 feet (USGS).

The dam forms a riverine impoundment approximately 2.8 miles long and up to 0.2 miles wide. The impoundment includes approximately 2.1 miles of Cook’s Brook at its confluence with the Saco River. The project boundary extends upstream to the Bar Mills Project (FERC No. 2194) tailwater and extends downstream to the impoundment of the Cataract Project, LIHI #169. Farther upstream is the Bonny Eagle Project (LIHI #182).

The powerhouse is integral to the dam which creates a 488-acre impoundment. The powerhouse contains 2 vertical-shaft Kaplan turbine/generator units with a total generator capacity of 21.6 MW. The project is operated as a seasonally modified run-of-river facility. Operation of the project is managed in conjunction with the water flow and storage of upstream projects in accordance with the 1997 Saco River Instream Flow Agreement, as follows:

• April 1 through June 30, the project is operated in run-of-river mode with only 1 foot of fluctuation from the normal full pond allowed.
• July 1 through September 30, the minimum flow increases to 400 cfs when inflow is greater than 400 cfs. When inflow falls below 400 cfs the project continues to release 400 cfs by drawing from impoundment storage, with the impoundment drawdown limited to 4 feet or less from full pond elevation. Once the impoundment elevation drops 4 feet below full pond elevation outflow is equal to inflow.
• October 1 through November 15 (subject to agency approved alternative 6-week span), the minimum flow increases to 600 cfs or inflow, whichever is less.
• November 15 through March 31, the minimum flow is 400 cfs when inflow is greater than 400 cfs. When inflow falls below 400 cfs the project continues to release 400 cfs by drawing from impoundment storage, with the impoundment drawdown limited to 4 feet or less from full pond elevation. Once the impoundment elevation drops 4 feet below full pond elevation outflow is equal to inflow.

The project is equipped with upstream and downstream fish passage facilities installed in 2001. Upstream fish passage is provided by a fish lift located on the south side of the powerhouse, and consists of an attraction water system, a fish crowder system, a hopper/elevator, and truck and trap holding systems. Downstream fish passage is provided by a concrete log sluice centrally located in the dam equipped with a 5-foot by 5-foot slide gate located at the headworks. The project also has an upstream eel passage that was first operational in 2013. It includes a roughened cement attraction water flow area on the East side of the Skelton spillway leading the juvenile eels to a three-foot long EnkaMat ramp and into an elevator tank with approximately 50-gallon capacity.

Certification Files

2025 Application

• Skelton LIHI Application