BANGOR, Maine---The Maine Public Utilities Commission, in an order issued yesterday (8/23), approved the transfer of Bangor Hydro-Electric Company's 50 percent ownership interest in the 20-megawatt West Enfield hydroelectric station to Penobscot Hydro, LLC, a subsidiary of PP&L Global, Inc. The West Enfield facility will continue to sell its output back to Bangor Hydro under a long-term power purchase agreement through the year 2023.

The Maine commission's approval was the last needed to close the purchase.

Earlier this year, Penobscot Hydro received approval to purchase Bangor Hydro's seven hydroelectric stations and to sell the output to Bangor Hydro until March 2000, at which time Maine's new electric restructuring law signed last year by Gov. Angus King will go into effect. The acquisition also included the purchase of Bangor Hydro's 8.33 percent interest (52 megawatts) in the Wyman Unit 4 oil-fired generating station in Yarmouth, its entitlement to the Hydro Quebec Phase I and II DC tie and its reservation right to 100 megawatts of firm long-term transmission service on the Maine Electric Power Company (MEPCO) transmission line connecting New Brunswick Power and the Maritime Provinces to the New England Power Pool (NEPOOL), which enables Penobscot Hydro to import power from Canada. The acquisition of transmission entitlements/rights and generation assets has a total capacity of 217 megawatts.

"We are very pleased to receive the final approval for the 50 percent ownership interest in West Enfield," Jim Potter, executive director of Penobscot Hydro, said. "This hydroelectric station is a relatively new plant (11 years old) and provides the state with environmentally friendly power. We look forward to continuing to meet the obligations of the long-term power purchase agreement with Bangor Hydro."

The acquisition of these assets is another step in PP&L Resources' (the holding company of PP&L Global) strategy to establish a competitive position in the New England generation market by providing for potential retail customer sales growth as well as energy trading and marketing opportunities.

Last month, PP&L Resources announced that it will acquire Western Mass. Holdings, Inc., a mechanical contracting group that provides construction, maintenance and technical services for industrial, commercial and institutional clients in Massachusetts and Connecticut. That acquisition is expected to close sometime next month. PP&L Global also is evaluating the development of a new gas-fired power plant in Wallingford, Conn. Another PP&L Resources subsidiary is managing wholesale energy marketing, trading and risk-management for Energy New England, the largest wholesale aggregator of public power system load and generation assets in the New England region.

PP&L Resources has a goal to more than double its electricity generating capacity -- to 20,000 megawatts -- over the next five years.