[G]reen Mountain Power says it applied last week to the Public Service Board for approval to purchase 14 hydroelectric plants. The purchase, officials say, will boost the company’s hydropower portfolio by nearly 20 percent.
The utility is buying the power plants and two power supply contracts from multinational energy giant Enel Green Power, GMP representatives said Wednesday. Purchase of the 10 plants outside Vermont likely will require state approval, according to regulators.
The transaction will secure enough additional hydroelectric energy to power 21,000 homes, said spokeswoman Dorothy Schnure.
Schnure said the purchase is a great deal for GMP customers and that hydroelectric generation is “a really cost-effective” source of power.
The dams will help the company, a subsidiary of Canadian energy giant Gaz Métro, meet future statutory requirements for renewable energy.
However, Green Mountain Power plans to sell at least some of the renewable energy credits out of state. That means utilities in other states will claim the renewable energy instead of using their own wind, solar or hydro infrastructure. As a result, the RECs won’t count toward Vermont’s renewable energy goals.
The deal also includes a power purchase agreement between GMP and Rome-based Enel. That agreement will secure energy from two additional dams in Sheldon and in Ticonderoga, New York.
The 14 power plants don’t necessarily include the dams, Schnure said. For instance, GMP bought a power plant below Waterbury’s hydroelectric dam, but the federal government owns the dam, she said.
Four of the power stations to be purchased sit in Vermont rivers, near North Hartland, Newbury, Hartford and Barnet. The remaining 10 are in Maine, New Hampshire and Massachusetts.
Green Mountain Power filed Friday for approval from the Public Service Board through the Section 248 process — the state’s regulatory mechanism for energy infrastructure — for the 10 plants outside Vermont, Schnure said.
The Vermont Public Service Board will review the proposal in light of 10 statutory criteria, which include environmental factors as well as need, system reliability and economic benefit.
The 14 generators range in size from 0.4 megawatts to 2.78 megawatts and will add to 32 hydroelectric plants GMP already owns. Those existing 32 GMP generators can produce up to 100 megawatts, Schnure said.
The department has secured an appraiser to evaluate the value of the assets as part of that process, Copans said.
It’s not yet clear to department staffers what effect the purchase will have on Green Mountain Power rates, Copans said.
The department excluded the new power plants from Green Mountain Power’s current rate proceedings, because the transaction wasn’t far enough along, Copans said.
Like other state utilities, rates at Green Mountain Power are set by the Public Service Board.
Enel representatives did not return calls for comment on the deal.
