Photos from PSNH's Archives

2
Jul
The Jacona (1931) The Jacona was a “unique floating power plant” that PSNH used in Portsmouth from 1931–1945. From Everett Sackett’s Fifty Years of Service: The Company would have been hard pressed to generate enough energy to meet the demand during the depression and the war which followed, if it had not acquired a unique floating power plant in 1931. This was the Jacona, a ship which had been started by the government during World War I but never completed. NEPSCo had purchased the hull in 1930 and converted it to a 20,000 kW power plant to anchor at Bucksport, Maine to furnish power to a new paper mill there pending completion of the Bingham Hydro Plant. When it was no longer needed at Bucksport, PSNH at first leased and then bought it from NEPSCo. It was anchored and connected to transmission lines at Portsmouth. It represented a third of the steam and a sixth of the total generating capacity of the Company. On March 17, 1945 the Jacona was seized by the United States government and taken for use in the war effort … To cover the loss of the Jacona, work was rushed on the new J. Brodie Smith Hydro Plant on the Androscoggin at Berlin and on a transmission line with a capacity of 40,000 kW connecting the Company’s lines at Nashua with the New England Power Company at Tewksbury, Massachusetts.  Photo date: September 4, 1931

The Jacona (1931)

The Jacona was a “unique floating power plant” that PSNH used in Portsmouth from 1931–1945.

From Everett Sackett’s Fifty Years of Service:

The Company would have been hard pressed to generate enough energy to meet the demand during the depression and the war which followed, if it had not acquired a unique floating power plant in 1931. This was the Jacona, a ship which had been started by the government during World War I but never completed. NEPSCo had purchased the hull in 1930 and converted it to a 20,000 kW power plant to anchor at Bucksport, Maine to furnish power to a new paper mill there pending completion of the Bingham Hydro Plant. When it was no longer needed at Bucksport, PSNH at first leased and then bought it from NEPSCo. It was anchored and connected to transmission lines at Portsmouth. It represented a third of the steam and a sixth of the total generating capacity of the Company. On March 17, 1945 the Jacona was seized by the United States government and taken for use in the war effort … To cover the loss of the Jacona, work was rushed on the new J. Brodie Smith Hydro Plant on the Androscoggin at Berlin and on a transmission line with a capacity of 40,000 kW connecting the Company’s lines at Nashua with the New England Power Company at Tewksbury, Massachusetts. 

Photo date: September 4, 1931

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18
May
Cooling Off (1955) An operator opens one of the condenser valves at Schiller Station in Portsmouth, NH. When the valve is open, river water is able to cool off the exhaust steam from the turbine—which sits above the condenser—thus squeezing the last bit of energy out of the steam to maximize unit efficiency. This completes the Rankine cycle, converting heat into energy. The same valves exist at Schiller today. 

Cooling Off (1955)

An operator opens one of the condenser valves at Schiller Station in Portsmouth, NH. When the valve is open, river water is able to cool off the exhaust steam from the turbine—which sits above the condenser—thus squeezing the last bit of energy out of the steam to maximize unit efficiency. This completes the Rankine cycle, converting heat into energy. The same valves exist at Schiller today. 

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