Newfoundland Joint Venture Adds 27 MW and Upgrades Another 27 MW of Hydroelectric Power

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Researched by Industrialinfo.com (Industrial Information Resources, Incorporated; Houston, Texas). Exploits River Hydro Partnership (Saint John's, Newfoundland), a joint venture of Abitibi-Consolidated (TSX: A; NYSE: ABY) (Montreal, Quebec) and Fortis Incorporated (TSX: FTS) (Saint John's, Newfoundland) are completing redevelopment of Grand Falls Generating Station in Grand Falls-Windsor Newfoundland and Bishop Falls Generating Station in Bishop Falls Newfoundland. The hydroelectric plants are receiving seven new hydro turbine/generator sets. This includes one 27 megawatt (MW) unit at Grand Falls and six 3 MW units at Bishop Falls.

The redevelopment at Grand Falls involves the installation of a 27 MW Alstom Horizontal Francis turbine/generator to be completed by end of 2003. The redevelopment of Bishop Falls was completed this month and consisted of refurbishment of three S. Morgan Smith hydroelectric turbines and replacement of six 3 MW S. Morgan Smith hydroelectric turbine/generators with six American Hydro Seagull units. The redevelopment costs are estimated at $68 million.

Fortis Incorporated was established as the parent company of Newfoundland Power in 1987 to pursue growth through diversification. Newfoundland Power and its predecessor companies have been distributors of electricity in Newfoundland since 1885. Fortis has investments in six electric distribution utilities located in Newfoundland and Labrador, Prince Edward Island, Ontario, Belize and the Cayman Islands. It also has two subsidiaries engaged solely in electricity generation in New York State and Belize. Through its non-utility subsidiary, Fortis has investments in commercial real estate and hotels throughout Atlantic Canada. Fortis employs over 2300 employees, has assets of $2 billion and annual sales of more than $715 million.

Abitibi-Consolidated is a global leader in newsprint and uncoated groundwood papers with ownership interests in 27 paper mills in Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom and Asia (including 50% interest in Pan Asia Paper Company), a market pulp mill, 22 sawmills, three remanufacturing facilities, and ten recycling centers. Abitibi-Consolidated has approximately 16,000 employees and supplies wood based products in nearly 100 countries.