Apr 30 2008
A PPL Corporation subsidiary will renovate and recommission its Orono, Maine, hydroelectric plant, adding 20,000 megawatt-hours per year of clean, renewable electricity to the region's power supplies.
The new renewable energy is another benefit of PPL's previously announced agreement with a coalition of government agencies, private conservation groups and the Penobscot Indian Nation to restore historic runs of Atlantic salmon and other species of fish to the Penobscot River.
Construction work at Orono will begin soon, and the plant's generators are expected to be serving customers by 2009, according to Dennis J. Murphy, vice president and chief operating officer of PPL's Eastern Fossil and Hydro Generation.
"Expanding our renewable energy capabilities is a priority for PPL," Murphy said. "This new source of clean electricity will be a significant benefit for the environment and for the region."
PPL plans to spend more than $500 million on hydroelectric expansions in Pennsylvania, Maine and Montana over the next several years. The company also will spend an additional $100 million on renewable energy projects including solar energy installations and plants that generate electricity from the waste methane produced at landfills.
The Orono project is the second expansion by PPL of renewable energy output enabled by the salmon restoration agreement. In May 2006, PPL expanded the output of its Medway, West Enfield and Stillwater hydroelectric plants in Maine by a total of 10,000 megawatt-hours per year.
"Through the innovative Penobscot Project, the river can provide hydropower, self-sustaining runs of 11 species of native sea-run fish that have been so important to the local culture and economies, and many other values for people and wildlife," said Laura Rose Day, executive director of the Penobscot River Restoration Trust, the nonprofit group charged with implementing key aspects of the 2004 agreement. "We applaud PPL's continuing commitment to both restore fisheries and increase energy generation."
Under the river restoration agreement, the Penobscot Trust has until June 2009 to purchase PPL's Veazie, Great Works and Howland dams in Maine for about $25 million. The trust plans to demolish two of the dams and bypass a third to help restore what once was one of the largest runs of Atlantic salmon in the United States, as well as self-sustaining runs of American shad, river herring, sturgeon and other native species.
The Orono plant stopped producing electricity in 1996 after the failure of its penstocks, large aging wooden pipes that carried water from the Penobscot River to the powerhouse. PPL purchased the inoperative plant from the Bangor Hydro Electric Company in 1999 as part of a package of generation and other assets.
The $4.7 million recommissioning project will include building a new concrete penstock to direct water to the plant, where it will move turbines and turn the electricity generators.
The reactivated Orono plant will provide enough electricity to power 1,800 homes. The energy will be sold on the wholesale market by PPL EnergyPlus, the company's energy marketing and sales subsidiary.