LITTLETON: A Hydro-Quebec subsidiary is buying a company that operates 13 hydropower generating stations in Vermont, New Hampshire and Massachusetts, strengthening its relationship with New England. The $2 billion purchase of Littletonbased Great River Hydro LLC and the dams that produce 589 megawatts of electricity will provide Hydro-Quebec with the largest hydropower operation in New England, officials said. Great River has about 100 workers, all of whom will be retained after the purchase is completed, officials said.
MANCHESTER: FedEx is ending the research and development of “Roxo” — a same-day delivery robot that was being developed with Manchester’s DEKA Research & Development Corp. The NH Union leader reported that the decision was announced in an Oct. 6 memo from Sriram Krishnasamy, chief transformation officer at FedEx, on a new company strategy called DRIVE, aimed at helping the company’s financial goals. The platform for the delivery robot is iBot, a motorized wheelchair with stair-climbing capability developed by DEKA, the company founded by Manchester inventor Dean Kamen.
MANCHESTER: Catholic Medical Center has hired an outside law firm with experience in the healthcare industry to review its cardiac surgery unit, following a Boston Globe Spotlight investigation that raised concerns about a former CMC surgeon with one of the country’s worst malpractice records. CMC announced that Pennsylvania-based firm Horty, Springer & Mattern will conduct an independent look at the hospital’s credentialing practices and how leadership responded to employee concerns about Dr. Yvon Baribeau.
ERROL: A general store in the North Country town of Errol will be the first of multiple state-sponsored charging stations for electric vehicles as part of the state’s plan to create an EV infrastructure with the help of $4.6 million from the Volkswagen diesel settlement. Besides the Volkswagen Mitigation Trust money, an additional $17 million will be used to create the network.
LONDONDERRY: Providence, R.I.-based grocery distributor United Natural Foods Inc. has opened a 125,000-square-foot refrigerated distribution center in Londonderry. The company, the largest publicly traded wholesale distributor of health and specialty food in North America, now operates 57 distribution centers and warehouses nationwide. The Londonderry location now gives it three in New England, joining one in Chesterfield, NH, and another in Dayville, Conn.
SALEM: A new Mass General Brigham Integrated Care facility at the massive Tuscan Village mixeduse development in Salem is now open, offering primary care, behavioral health services, imaging and eventually more. Construction of the 62,000-square-foot structure — spanning three floors — began in September 2020. At full capacity, it will accommodate up to 250 employees.
BURLINGTON, VT.: Evernorth, a nonprofit housing organization that serves the three northern New England states, has launched an $8.95 million program to fund development of workforce housing in the Upper Valley of New Hampshire and Vermont. The fund, backed financially by eight Upper Valley employers, will work with developers and housing organizations with the goal of as many as 260 affordable apartments over the next two or three years.
SEABROOK: The internationally renowned Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli has filed a breach-of-contract lawsuit against Private Jet Services Group, a Seabrook-based charter service provider, that says its client list includes “the biggest names in entertainment.” Bocelli alleges the company — which he hired to provide flights during the North American leg of his “Believe World Tour” in November and December 2021 — failed to meet his specific demands “to provide a higher standard” of safety on the jet he rented.
