PUBLIC SERVICE CONDUCTS RIBBON CUTTING CEREMONY

The Northeast Utilities, commonly known as Public Service of New Hampshire hosted a ribbon cutting ceremony at the new Northern Wood Power Plant at Schiller Station on Friday May 4, 2007. As a supplier to the plant, both my wife and I had the honor to attend the event.

The electric power generating plant which is located in Portsmouth recently converted one of the 50 megawatt coal burning boilers to a wood fueled generator. The plant’s expected fuel consumption of 450,000 tons of clean wood chips replaces 130,000 tons of coal that the previous boiler used; resulting in an expected air emission reduction of more than 380,000 tons annually.  Replacing one of the boilers in Portsmouth helped PSNH meet the requirements of the New Hampshire Clean Power Act.  

Construction of the plant took a little over three years. To find out more about this new project that affects all of us in the region, visit the Northern Wood Power Plant at Schiller Station web site. This site can be visited by clicking on the link on our home page.

As a logging contractor, the plant’s construction and its new capacity to purchase fuel chips is huge.  As the forest product business cycles through change, I must admit it is a good feeling to see a company invest in the future of our industry. The construction of this plant will be a tremendous asset to all of the manufacturing and other electric generating plants operating in our state and region

Not only will loggers and landowners benefit from this new plant, business’ that provide product support to the logging and forestry community will benefit as well. This new power plant will introduce millions of dollars to New Hampshire’s local economy. 

Governor Lynch, who attended the ribbon cutting ceremony, signed on to a 20x25 initiative. Governor Lynch has set a goal to have 25 percent of the state’s electric needs come from renewable energy sources by the year 2025.

We look forward to working with the people at Northern Wood Power. This plant, like the other co-regeneration plants that we support with fuel chips, provides more than electricity to our country. These plants have started a new trend for our country to follow, Energy Independence!