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Latest NewsClean Air Project Reaches New HeightsMercury Reduction System Taking Shape The pace of construction of PSNH’s Clean Air Project at Merrimack Station in Bow has picked up this spring, with the onset of fair weather. The company says the project, which is aimed at significantly reducing emissions of mercury and sulfur dioxide, is on schedule, with more than 150 skilled trade workers currently on site. When the project is complete in 2012, Merrimack Station will be one of the cleanest coal-fired power plants in the nation. Current project activity includes the ongoing construction of a new stack, or chimney, through which steam emissions from the power plant’s two boilers will exit, after having passed through the new “scrubber” that will capture mercury and sulfur dioxide. In keeping with necessary construction techniques, the stack erection work is taking place 24 hours per day, Monday – Friday, and ending at 7:00 a.m. on Saturday. The height of the new stack, now at more than 200 feet, will ultimately top off at 445 feet. Its 40 foot base diameter includes 18 inch thick concrete walls. Company representatives are meeting with officials in surrounding towns to update them on the project and the construction schedule.Concrete for the stack is being delivered around-the-clock from the Redimix Companies, Inc. plant in Bow, located just 2 minutes away from the project. By mid-July, when the shell of the stack is completed, a rotating shift of six Redimix drivers will have delivered an estimated 1,060 cubic yards of concrete. Scanada International Inc., also of Bow, has produced the mechanical system that is used to form and set the concrete, layer by layer—about one inch every 3 – 4 minutes. “We work on projects all around the world, but this one is special,” noted Klaus Hieronymus, Scanada International Inc. General Manager. “Our guys love it. It is a project right here in Bow and they get to go home at the end of the shift!” The installation of the scrubber technology at Merrimack Station, PSNH’s largest power plant, was mandated by the Legislature as part of the State’s Multiple Pollutant Reduction Program. The program is aimed at significantly reducing emissions of sulfur dioxide (SO2), oxides of nitrogen (NOx), mercury, and carbon dioxide (CO2). The plant will continue to utilize existing Selective Catalytic Reduction technology and Electro-Static Precipitators that effectively reduce emissions of NOx and particulates. Required CO2 mitigation is achieved through the company’s participation in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative. << Back to Latest News |
Public Service of New Hampshire (PSNH). P.O. Box 330 Manchester, New Hampshire, 03105 U.S.A. Telephone: 1-800-662-7764 or our TTY/TDD number 1-800-346-9994 |
