Blast, fire at Sithe's New Boston power plant
Date: 03-Oct-02
Country: USA
A spokeswoman for the New England ISO said the power supply to New England was not jeopardized by the incident at Sithe Power's New Boston plant, which sent black smoke billowing over Boston Harbor.
Local radio and television stations reported at around 6 p.m. EDT that firefighters had managed to bring the fire under control, but only after it had grown to a nine-alarm blaze.
Four firefighters were being treated for heat exhaustion, radio station WBZ reported.
The explosion knocked out a 350 MW unit at the plant. The second unit of the facility, which is also rated at 350 MW, was closed at the time of the blast, a spokeswoman for the grid operator said.
Energy traders said the loss of the unit was unlikely to pose a threat to New England's power supplies or drive up prices since electricity demand typically falls off during the mild autumn months.
For that reason, power plant operators often carry out maintenance work at this time of year, although it was not immediately clear whether the Sithe plant was shut for its seasonal overhaul at the time of the accident.
Officials at Sithe in New York and Boston were not immediately available for comment.
Sithe Energies Inc., based in New York City, is the largest non-nuclear power producer in the northeastern United States with its subsidiary, Sithe North America, operating 27 power plants totaling about 3,800 megawatts.
According to a statement posted on Sithe's Web site (www.sithe.com), Sithe North America is 49.9 percent-owned by Exelon Corp. , about 34 percent-owned by subsidiaries of Vivendi Universal , about 15 percent-owned by subsidiaries of Marubeni Corp. . Sithe management owns about 1 percent, the statement said.
Sithe has been one of the most aggressive power plant builders in North America, taking advantage of the market's deregulation to sell wholesale power.
