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LaidLaw Energy (LLEG)- PUC grants Laidlaw conditional approval on PPA



Click link to read the PUC statement: http://www.puc.nh.gov/Regulatory/Orders/2011orders/25213e.pdf


PUC grants Laidlaw conditional approval on PPA



By Barbara Tetreault
Apr 19, 2011 12:00 am
CONCORD – The N.H. Public Utilities Commission late yesterday afternoon issued granted conditional approval to a proposed purchase power agreement between Public Service of N.H. and Laidlaw Berlin BioPower/Berlin Station.
The PUC said it found the agreement as filed not in the public’s interest. It noted the PPA could cost as much at $2 billion over its 20 year term.
But the agency said it “would, however, approve a modified PPA complying with certain conditions that mitigate risk to PSNH’s default service customers and reduce total payments to approximately $1.3 billion over the term of the PPA”.
The hearing on the PPA ran for five days this winter and parties had until Feb. 14 to submit closing arguments. The city intervened in favor of the PPA and urged the PUC to rule quickly on the agreement.
The decision comes just days before Laidlaw/Berlin station is set to appear before the N.H. Site Evaluation Committee this Friday on its joint request to transfer the certificate of site and facility from Laidlaw to Berlin Station. The SEC last year granted Laidlaw conditional approval to construct and operate a 70-megawatt biomass plant on the former mill site. Laidlaw has since announced reorganization and a change in its major contractor and fuel supplier. One of the conditions of the SEC certificate is an approved PPA.