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Projects Ready for Construction Swift River Hydro Operations Company owns and has developed a hydro plant rehabilitation project that is ready for immediate construction. It has all necessary permits and licenses and only lacks construction financing. Indian River could be operating with one turbine before the end of 2009 and will have the second unit commissioned by the end of 2010. SRHOCO has applied for bank financing, but prior lenders that have financed its hydro projects in the past are unwilling to commit funding in the current uncertain economic and financial crisis. Therefore, Indian River has applied for federal assistance under the emergency stimulus act recently passed by Congress and to the Mass Dept. of Energy for grant funding available to "shovel ready" renewable energy projects. This is a 1450 kW hydro project ready for immediate construction, where the owner already has purchased most of the equipment that it intends to repower in its machine shop in Wilbraham, Massachusetts.. Operating Projects Swift River now operates 5 hydro projects, but previously has developed and operated over 20 renewable energy projects in New England.
Swift River Hydro Operations Company signed a Purchase and Sales Agreement with Pepperell Realty LLC to acquire the hydro plant that was formerly owned and operated by the Pepperell Paper Company during the last 90 years. The plant is located 600 feet downstream from the dam located on the Nashua River in the town of East Pepperell, Massachusetts. The plant is designed to have 1,920 kW installed, but one turbine was removed in the mid '80s and a second turbine was damaged last summer. When SRHOCO acquires the facility in January 2004, it proposes to rehabilitate the plant completely by installing two new turbines and a new generator and to install complete automation so the plant may be operated remotely. The annual output of the hydro plant during the last three year (2000 to 2003) averaged 3,408 MWh, a figure that we expect to more than double by installing two new turbines. With three turbine generator sets operating, annual production should exceed 7,123 MWh on average. The following set of monthly output curves illustrate the high and low flow variation around the long term average, and compare it to output in 2002. The curves illustrate the unusually low flows that are typical of the Nashua River during the summer months from June to October.
From 1982 until 1989, Swift River developed, financed, constructed and operated 18 hydro projects around New England. The first 3 of these projects were sold to Consolidated Hydro in 1985 and all but Pioneer, Collins and Sebec were sold to Swift River / Hafslund in 1989. Of this original group of projects, Swift River still manages and operates Collins Hydro LLC and Sebec Hydro LP. For more information see the Prior Project page. |
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