PPL Maine - Hydro

PPL Maine has nine operating plants with about 51 megawatts of generating capacity. Eight of the projects are on the Penobscot River Basin from Medway to Veazie, about four miles from Bangor; the ninth project is on the Union River in Ellsworth, about 25 miles east of Bangor.

PPL Maine LLC, a subsidiary of PPL Generation LLC, owns 100 percent of eight of the projects, which employ about 20 people total. PPL Maine and Indeck Energy Services Inc. each have a 50 percent indirect stock ownership in the ninth project.

The first station began commercial operation in 1891 and the last one went on line in 1987.

PPL Maine acquired the hydroelectric projects in 1999 along with an 8.33 percent (about 52 megawatts) interest in Wyman Unit 4, a 620-megawatt, oil-fired power plant in Yarmouth, Maine.

As part of the purchase agreement, PPL Maine also acquired 100 megawatts of transaction entitlements over the existing MEPCO high-voltage transmission line, expansion rights for a second high-voltage transmission line from Bangor to New Brunswick, Canada, and rights as a participant in the regional utilities’ agreements with Hydro Quebec. PPL is participating in the development of the transmission line and has transaction entitlement rights over it.

The acquisition gave PPL entrance into the New England Power Pool, which includes Connecticut, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, Vermont and Maine.

The project meets the Maine Legislature’s criteria for environmentally friendly power as a renewable generator under the state’s Renewable Portfolio Standard.

• Ellsworth hydroelectric plant, 9 megawatts
  (Grant Street, Ellsworth, ME 04605)
• Great Works hydroelectric plant, 8 megawatts
  (South Main Street, Old Town, ME 04468)
• Howland hydroelectric plant, 2 megawatts
  (Bridge Street, Howland, ME 04448)
• Medway hydroelectric plant, 3 megawatts
  (Route 116, Medway, ME 04460)
• Milford hydroelectric plant, 6 megawatts
  (Davenport Street, P.O. Box 276, Milford, ME 04461)
• Orono hydroelectric plant, 3 megawatts
  (18 Broadway, Orono, ME 04473)
• Stillwater hydroelectric plant, 2 megawatts
  (Franklin Street, Old Town, ME 04468)
• Veazie hydroelectric plant, 8 megawatts
  (River Road, Veazie, ME 04401)
• West Enfield hydroelectric plant, 13 megawatts
  (PPL has a 50 percent indirect stock ownership)

In 2003, PPL offered a coalition of environmental groups, government agencies and the Penobscot Indian Nation an option to buy three hydroelectric dams (Veazie, Great Works and Howland). Two dams would be demolished and a third bypassed, clearing the way for migrating salmon, shad, river herring and other sea-run fish species to return to 500 miles of Maine rivers. PPL would receive $25 million and the right to increase generation at its other hydro operations in Maine. The sale agreement is pending approval of federal and state government agencies.

In March 2009, PPL completed the recommissioning of its Orono hydroelectric plant, adding 20,000 megawatt-hours per year of clean, renewable electricity to the region’s power supplies. That 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. The project demonstrates PPL’s commitment to generating clean, renewable electricity while protecting Maine’s natural resources.

* Approximate winter rating net capacity