Franklin projected to get 44% property value jump from generator (NHX)

By Tara Ballenger

Concord Monitor

FRANKLIN — A project to build a terminal that will convert electricity from a Canadian hydroelectric plant is expected to boost Franklin's tax base by 44-percent, the mayor and governor announced last night.

The project, called Northern Pass, is a joint effort between Hydro-Quebec and Hartford, Conn.-based Northeast Utilities, which is the parent company of Public Service of New Hampshire. Once completed, it would pipe 1,200 megawatts of power 140 miles from the Canadian border to Franklin, where the $250-million converter station will change direct current into alternating current, said Gary Long, the chief operating officer of PSNH, to a standing-room-only crowd of residents and journalists in city hall.

According to Security and Exchange Commission filings, the overall project would cost a total of $1.1-billion. Construction would begin in late 2012 or early 2013, and power would start flowing by late 2015. Before that time, the project would need to obtain several state and federal permits, including one from the U.S. Department of Agriculture for permission to run power lines through the White Mountain National Forest.

Gov. John Lynch praised the project for the jobs and clean energy it would bring and said, as one of the largest energy projects in New England, it would bring hundreds of jobs and millions in tax revenue to the state.

"This will increase renewable energy for New Hampshire, and it will be stable, competitively priced energy," Lynch said.

According to estimates from PSNH, the project would create more than 300 jobs for each of the three years of construction. After completion, a small team of five to 10 people would man the converter.

Franklin was chosen, Long said, because it is at a crossroads in New Hampshire when it comes to power lines — there are already existing power lines running north-south and east-west. It makes sense to choose a location that is a central point within the infrastructure that already exists, he said.

The converter station would take up 25 acres once it's complete and may be built on land behind the Webster substation in Franklin that PSNH already owns.

Mayor Ken Merrifield said the revenue it would bring Franklin is unprecedented.

"A lot of people have been hoping for better investment in our schools, road improvements and more economic development," Merrifield said. "Now we have a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to do some of the things residents have been wanting to do but haven't had the money to do."

According to Franklin's city manager, the transformer station would bring about $5-million in extra tax revenue to the city.

The extra money could go to tax relief for residents and tax incentives to bring in new business and revive Franklin's lagging downtown, Merrifield said.

Though hydroelectric power helps lower carbon emissions, the energy from the project would not count toward the state's renewable energy portfolio, because it is a large-scale plan, Long said. In 2006, Lynch announced the "25 by 25" program, which sets a goal for the state to derive 25 percent of its total energy used from renewable resources by 2025. The project and the power it brings will not compete with smaller, local renewable energy sources, Long said.