Haddington Sells Rights to Its Compressed Air Energy Storage Project to FirstEnergy

November 23, 2009 – Vol.14 No.36

Haddington Sells Rights to Its Compressed Air Energy Storage Project to FirstEnergy.

Haddington Ventures, has announced that CAES Development Company, a portfolio company of Haddington's managed funds, has sold to FirstEnergy Generation Corp., a subsidiary of Akron, Ohio-based FirstEnergy Corp., the rights to the Norton Energy Storage Project, a compressed air energy storage (CAES) facility under development in Norton, Ohio.

"We are very pleased to have reached an agreement with FirstEnergy for their acquisition of this project," said Haddington Managing Director John A. Strom. "The rapid growth in renewable wind energy is accelerating the need for additional bulk energy storage to support renewable integration, and the flexibility of CAES facilities to provide both regulation and load following services, combined with their low energy production costs, are unmatched by any other natural gas-fired generation resource."

"The compressed-air technology envisioned at this site would enable us to produce energy that essentially can be stored and used at another time," said Gary R. Leidich, FirstEnergy executive vice president and president of FirstEnergy Generation. "Many renewable energy sources - such as wind - are intermittent and not always available when customers need them. The energy storage aspects of this project could complement our region's overall renewable energy efforts because the power can be dispatched when it is needed."

Haddington has obtained all permits necessary to develop more than 2,000 megawatts (MW) of storage in a 2,200-foot-deep inactive mine on a 92-acre site near Norton. Engineering and equipment design and project cost estimates have been completed for the first 268 MW of generation (two modules) and 220 MW of compression, allowing for substantial expansion after the first phase.

CAES allows utilities to use inexpensive and renewable off-peak electricity to compress air and store it in airtight underground caverns to later meet periods of high demand. When electric power demand peaks during the day, the process is reversed, and the compressed air is returned to the surface and combined with a third of the natural gas typically used in gas-fired power generation to produce electricity.

Haddington Ventures, through its private equity funds, generally makes control-oriented investments in companies focused on gathering, separation, processing, treating, compression, storage, and transmission of energy.

FirstEnergy is a diversified energy company headquartered in Akron, Ohio. (11/23/09)

Links:

Haddington Ventures
http://www.hvllc.com

FirstEnergy
http://www.firstenergycorp.com/index.html

Disclaimer, Forward-Looking or Safe Harbor Statement on original press release: No