OREANDA-NEWS. After more than 12,000 hours of meetings and 3,000 lunches, the Keowee-Toxaway hydro relicensing stakeholder team members today signed an agreement that will bring a variety of water and recreational benefits to the region.

The signing ceremony formalized the contract among Duke Energy, community stakeholders and government agencies that outlines enhancements in water resource protection, recreational amenities, land conservation and shoreline management over the course of the new federal license.

“Signing the relicensing agreement is a major milestone toward determining the future operations of Lake Jocassee and Lake Keowee. This is the best opportunity to locally shape what’s in the new federal license,” said Steve Jester, vice-president of water strategy, hydro licensing and lake services for Duke Energy. “We are grateful for the tireless efforts of the stakeholders and other committee members who invested countless hours to ensure this agreement has the best balance of all needs.”

The Keowee-Toxaway Hydroelectric Project was originally licensed in 1966 for 50 years. The existing license expires in August 2016. The project includes Keowee Hydro Station, Lake Keowee, Jocassee Pumped Storage Station and Lake Jocassee. Together these two hydro plants have a generating capacity of 868 megawatts.

The license application is due to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission in August 2014, and the next license term will be 30 to 50 years. The relicensing agreement signed today will be included with the license application.

Duke Energy Carolinas owns nuclear, coal-fired, natural gas and hydroelectric generation. That diverse fuel mix provides approximately 20,000 megawatts of owned electric capacity to approximately 2.4 million customers in a 24,000-square-mile service area of North Carolina and South Carolina.