PARIS — Local corporation Bancroft Contracting has been recognized with a national award for its work on a major hydropower development project on the Penobscot River. 

The Associated General Contractors of America awarded Bancroft the Alliant Build America award at a ceremony in Las Vegas, Nev., earlier this month, one of 19 firms from across the country to be honored.

The project, started a decade ago, intends to return the Penobscot to its natural flow by removing two hydroelectric dams in Veazie and Orono while boosting the power generation capabilities of two other dams on the Stillwater River, which branches off the Penobscot in Milford and rejoins it in Orono.

In an interview at his South Paris office on Thursday, founder and owner Mark Bancroft said the more than $20 million project is the largest his company has taken on so far. 

“This job was as large as our annual revenue was a few years ago,” Bancroft said.

The project called for his company to build two new powerhouses, intake and tailrace structures, gates, penstocks, forebays and buildings connected to both powerhouses.

To add to the challenging scope of the project, construction, slated to begin in the spring of 2012, was delayed for six months because of federal permitting delays, cutting the project timeline from 18 months to 12. 

While due to the delay, his company missed an ideal window to begin construction, in a extremely dry summer while the Penobscot was at a historic low, Bancroft said. Instead, it was forced to begin work, on an accelerated timeline, just around the time Hurricane Sandy hit in October 2012, and continue working in extremely challenging conditions through the winter.

Despite the setbacks, the project was completed on time, Bancroft said.

Beyond the scope and challenge of the construction, Bancroft said he is proud his company is part of a unique project that allows the Penobscot to flow freely and fish to again migrate upstream while still providing power through boosted hydroelectric stations on the Stillwater River.

“Most fish-related initiatives involving hydro is to simply take the dams out and not restore power,” Bancroft said. “To be able to do both is awesome.”

His company is still finishing construction of the housing for an $8 million fish elevator at the Milford dam, which will allow salmon and other species to be lifted over the obstacle and continue upstream to spawn. 

Bancroft said he is proud of the job the construction managers and employees have done on the project and hopes to be able to work on more unique, innovative projects in the future. 

pmcguire@sunjournal.com

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