June 27 (Reuters) – New England power company Northeast
Utilities on Thursday proposed a new route for part of a
$1.4 billion Northern Pass power transmission line to run from
Quebec to New Hampshire.
Northeast Utilities said the high voltage direct current
(HVDC) line is expected to be put into service in mid 2017,
pending federal and state regulatory approvals.
If all goes according to plan, it will bring about 1,200
megawatts (MW) of mostly hydropower from Hydro-Quebec, Quebec’s
province owned power company. That could power over one million
New England homes.
Northeast Utilities would own the estimated 187-mile portion
of the line in New Hampshire and Hydro-Quebec would own the
Quebec portion.
In New Hampshire, the HVDC line would run from the town of
Pittsburg in the northern part of the state to a new converter
station in Franklin in the south central part of the state,
where the energy will be converted to alternating current (AC)
power. The AC power will travel to an existing substation in
Deerfield in the southeastern part of the state.
Northeast Utilities, which submitted its original proposal
in 2010, said the project will be financed by its developers and
customers will not pay any of the associated costs.
Northeast Utilities said the improved route announced
Thursday includes about 40 miles of new rights of way in the
northern part of New Hampshire, including an underground portion
of nearly 8 miles. About 147 miles of the project will be built
in existing transmission rights of way.
But not everyone is satisfied with the project.
The Conservation Law Foundation, a New England environmental
group, said in a statement that the Northeast Utilities measures
amount to “putting a band-aid on a gaping wound.”
“The new route has the same flaws that have doomed its
progress to date, primarily the lack of consideration for the
communities that would unnecessarily bear all of the burden of
the project and none of the benefit,” said Jonathan Peress, Vice
President and director, Clean Energy and Climate Change for
Conservation Law Foundation.
A spokesman at Northeast Utilities, Michael Skelton, said
the company would “like to work with the Conservation Law
Foundation and hope they will be supportive of the project in
light of the fact the group has called for importing more
hydropower from Canada to support more renewable energy in New
England.”
Northeast Utilities said it will file an amendment to the
Presidential Permit application with the U.S. Department of
Energy soon, and in 2014 it will file with the New Hampshire
Site Evaluation Committee, which oversees the state permitting
process.
The company expects the project to reduce New England’s
carbon emissions by up to five million tons per year and cut
annual energy costs in the region $200 million to $300 million
by displacing costlier fossil fuel generation sources that would
otherwise be needed to meet regional demand.
In addition, the company said the project is expected to
generate $28 million in new property taxes annually for local
communities and create 1,200 jobs per year during construction.
