Oh yeah?

Comments

[wood burner]

YEP!!

[warren,]

No Quarter!!!! ( as in PSNH should Show No Q... )

[warren,]

"The power agreements were there....The IPPs got greedy and started asking for more....Now everybody really loses."

Hopefully when the IPPs go under, and Hopefully their Swan Song will not last too long... They've Held New Hampshire to Ransom for over 20 years now... This can be continued.

Berlin Station projected scrapped by investors

By Barbara Tetreault

Jul 05, 2011 12:00 am

BERLIN – The proposed Berlin Station biomass project is dead after negotiations with the wood-fired Independent Power Producers failed to reach an agreement.

A spokesman for Cate Street Capital said the company had a June 30 deadline to come to an agreement that would see the six smaller biomass plants withdraw their state Supreme Court appeal of the power purchase agreement between Berlin Station and Public Service of N.H.

“The June 30 deadline was real,” said Scott Tranchemontagne.

Tranchemontagne said Cate Street Capital needed to have the threat of litigation removed by that date so it could get its financing in place and meet its winter construction schedule. He said lenders will not get involved in the project without assurances that it won’t be delayed indefinitely.

Tranchemontagne said negotiations between the parties have been going on for some time with Gov. Lynch and George Bald of the Department of Resources and Economic Development directly involved along with PSNH, and the Public Utilities Commission. Local officials were hopeful the parties would come to an agreement when they met last week.

Tranchemontagne said PSNH agreed to 20-month power purchase agreements with the four small biomass plants that do not currently have power agreements but sell power on the spot market. He noted the short-term agreements were one of the key requests of the IPPs.

“The power agreements were there. The deal was in place,” he said.

Tranchemontagne said the negotiations broke down when the IPPs asked for additional concessions including a cash payment over and above the power agreements.

“The IPPs got greedy and started asking for more,” he said.

With no agreement in place, Tranchemontagne noted everyone loses, not just Cate Street Capital. He said the small biomass plants will not get the short-term power purchase agreements they claim to need to be viable.

He said the North Country will lose out on a major economic initiative. The $274 million project would have hired up to 400 people during the 27-month construction phase. Once up and running it would employ 40 people and pump $25 million into the local economy annually. The project would have generated $2.5 million in New Market Tax Credits for the North Country. It would also be a boost to ailing North Country businesses like Isaacson Structural Steel, which filed last month for bankruptcy protection.

“All of that is gone,” said Tranchemontagne. “Now everybody really loses.”

The PUC last month approved the revised 20-year PPA between Berlin Station and PSNH. The IPPs filed a motion for a rehearing before the PUC and an appeal before the Supreme Court. The PUC rejected the motion for a rehearing.

The six IPPs that have appealed the Berlin Station power purchase agreement to the Supreme Court are Bridgewater Power Company L.P., Pinetree Power Inc., Pinetree Power-Tamworth Inc., Springfield Power LLC, Whitefield Power & Light Company and Indeck Energy-Alexandria, LLC.

[wood burner]

warren, Notice how the ball here and the one in the paper are different;)

[warren,]

Yes, That's Rocky for you!

[toonist]

The one in the paper was supposed to run LAST week! It's moot this week. The one on here was updated because the Sun had already committed to run a moot toon and I really hate it when that happens!