PPL Corp. (NYSE: PPL) announced Thursday (6/22) that its PPL Global subsidiary plans to build 600 megawatts of peaking power capacity on Long Island in New York.
In making the announcement, Paul Champagne, PPL Global president, said this project will provide significant benefits to the residents of Long Island while presenting a tremendous development opportunity for PPL.
"With the continued growth on Long Island, there is an acknowledged need for additional competitive electricity sources," said Champagne. "These proposed units will provide significant additional electricity to these residents in a way that is environmentally and aesthetically sensitive for area residents and cost-effective for PPL Global."
PPL Global plans to develop up to 12 gas-fired units at a site in the Kings Park area of Smithtown on Long Island. Company representatives have met with area residents to discuss the project, and PPL Global will soon file permitting documents, said Champagne.
"In addition to providing much-needed electricity on Long Island, this project will provide a significant growth opportunity for PPL," said Champagne. Because of transmission limitations, the wholesale prices for electricity on Long Island are among the highest in the nation.
"We are very excited about this project because it represents a true win-win: the residents of Long Island get new electricity supply when they need it most, and PPL gets a presence in a fast-growing electricity market," said Champagne.
Electricity generated at the facility will be sold on the wholesale market.
The station will be located on 15 acres of a 21-acre site that is currently home to a sand and gravel operation. The station also is located near a major natural gas pipeline and one of Long Island's major transmission lines. Champagne said the station is expected to cost about $300 million.
Pending approvals from state and local agencies, plans call for construction to begin in 2001 and for the facility to be operational in June of 2002.
Champagne said PPL Global is committed to working with area residents to ensure that the facility is the best neighbor it can be.
PPL Global is PPL Corporation's domestic and international development company. PPL Corp. announced last year that its corporate strategy is to own or control about 20,000 megawatts of generating capacity in key U.S. markets. Today, the company has more than 9,700 megawatts of capacity under its control in Pennsylvania, Montana and Maine. With the announcement of this project, it now is developing an additional 2,700 megawatts in Connecticut, New York, Pennsylvania and Arizona.
Certain statements contained in this news release, including statements with respect to future growth, generation capacity and the associated cost, are "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the federal securities laws. Although PPL Corp. believes that the expectations and assumptions reflected in these forward-looking statements are reasonable, these statements involve a number of risks and uncertainties, and actual results may differ materially from the results discussed in the statements. The following are among the important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from the forward-looking statements: market demand and prices for energy, capacity and fuel; weather variations affecting customer energy usage; competition in retail and wholesale power markets; the effect of any business or industry restructuring; the profitability and liquidity of PPL Corp. and its subsidiaries; new accounting requirements or new interpretations or applications of existing requirements; operating performance of plants and other facilities; environmental conditions and requirements; system conditions and operating costs; performance of new ventures; political, regulatory or economic conditions in countries where PPL Corp. or its subsidiaries conduct business; foreign exchange rates; and the commitments and liabilities of PPL Corp. and its subsidiaries. Any such forward-looking statements should be considered in light of such factors and in conjunction with PPL Corp.'s Form 10-K and other reports on file with the Securities and Exchange Commission.