FirstLight Power signs PPA for two hydro plants in Montague

Rhode Island, Vermont, and 21 public power entities from Massachusetts have agreed to purchase 200 million kilowatt-hours per year of hydroelectric power produced by FirstLight Power in Western Massachusetts.

The purchase agreement, structured and executed by Energy New England, will help to cover the electric power demands of more than 200,000 homes in the participating communities while saving participating utilities’ ratepayers millions of dollars over the life of the contract.

FirstLight’s Cabot Generating Station, located on the Connecticut River in Montague, is Massachusetts’ largest conventional hydropower facility. First put into service in 1916, the facility comprises six generating units with combined output of 62 megawatts, enough to power more than 50,000 homes. Turners Falls, just upstream of Cabot, consists of 5 generators with combined output of 6 megawatts and was commissioned in 1905.

The 21 public power entities participating in the contract include 18 in Massachusetts: Belmont Municipal Light Department, Braintree Electric Light Department, Concord Municipal Light Plant, Danvers Electric Division, Georgetown Municipal Light Department, Groveland Municipal Light Department, Hingham Municipal Lighting Plant, Mass Development/Devens Utilities, Merrimac Municipal Light Department, Middleboro Gas & Electric Department, Middleton Municipal Electric Department, North Attleboro Electric Department, Norwood Municipal Light Department, Reading Municipal Light Department, Rowley Municipal Lighting Plant, Taunton Municipal Lighting Plan, Wellesley Municipal Light Plant, and Westfield Gas & Electric.

Also participating are the Block Island Utility District and Pascoag Utility District in Rhode Island and Stowe Electric Department in Vermont.