Northern Pass proposes new transmission plan

The developer of a proposed $1.4 billion electric transmission line connecting Quebec to New Hampshire has released a revised route for the project, following public opposition to earlier plans.  The new vision for the Northern Pass project would bury more of the line underground and reduce the project's overall capacity to haul power.  Will this version of the Northern Pass gain more traction?

First proposed in 2009, the Northern Pass would be a 192-mile high-voltage direct current (HVDC) transmission line.  It would bring up to 1,000 megawatts of power from Canadian power plants into New England, running from the Canadian border to a proposed converter terminal in Franklin, New Hampshire.  From there, a new alternating current (AC) transmission line would deliver the energy to New England’s electric grid at an existing substation in Deerfield, New Hampshire. 

Since it was first proposed, the Northern Pass route has drawn criticism; the project was delayed, and despite revisions to the route public opposition remained.  Throughout the process, many comments have focused on local siting impacts, like the effect of above-ground transmission lines and poles through Franconia Notch State Park, the White Mountain National Forest, and the Appalachian Trail.  Eversource proposed running 8 miles of cable underground to reduce these impacts, but argued that undergrounding more would make the project too expensive.

But the forces motivating the Northern Pass project and other proposed HVDC lines from Canada remain strong: demand in New England and New York for electricity, and in particular for hydropower and other renewable electricity imported from Canada.

On August 18, project lead Eversource Energy announced changes to the route and scope of the project.  While the previous vision included 8 miles of underground cable to avoid visual impacts, the so-called "Forward New Hampshire Plan" now includes 60 miles of underground cable. Eversource described its revised route as striking "a balance between New Hampshire and our region’s need for a reliable new energy source and avoiding potential impacts to the state’s scenic landscapes."  At the same time, the revised proposal reduces the line's capacity from 1,200 megawatts to 1,000 megawatts, ostensibly to hold total costs at the previously estimated $1.4 billion.  The plan now includes $200 million to establish the "Forward NH Fund", a pool of money designed to support clean energy innovations, economic development, community investment, and tourism.

The Northern Pass project now faces public hearings.  Eversource is expected to file an application for site review with the New Hampshire Site Evaluation Committee in mid-October.

National Park Service OKs transmission line on park lands

The National Park Service has given its final approval to a proposed high-voltage electric transmission line that would cross public lands in Pennsylvania and New Jersey, including the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area, the Middle Delaware National Scenic and Recreational River as well as the Appalachian National Scenic Trail.

The 500 kilovolt transmission line, known as the Susquehanna-Roseland line, has been proposed by utilities PPL Electric Utilities and Public Service Electric and Gas Co. It would run 145 miles from Susquehanna, Pennsylvania to Roseland, New Jersey.  Mid-Atlantic electric grid operator PJM, Inc. and national electric reliability organization NERC had called for the line to protect the grid's reliability by preventing existing power lines from facing overloaded conditions.  The line also received a fast-track review by federal agencies under the auspices of the Interagency Rapid Response Team for Transmission, a group formed to coordinate on an expedited review of transmission projects designed to increase grid reliability, integrate new renewable energy, and cut consumer costs.

While the line's route largely followed existing rights-of-way, environmentalists and park activists challenged the National Park Service's approval of expansions to the rights-of-way through these national parklands.  The New Jersey Board of Public Utilities' approval of the project was also challenged, on the grounds that the state board failed to give adequate consideration to non-transmission alternatives that could have met consumer demand, such as programs promoting demand response and energy efficiency.  That case remains pending.

On Monday, the National Park Service issued its record of decision approving the line (31-page PDF).  As a condition of approval, the NPS required the developing utilities to contribute at least $56 million to a
fund to mitigate the line's impacts on federal lands by purchasing or otherwise conserving land for public use, compensating for impacts to wetlands affected by the line, and funding cultural and historic preservation in the affected parks.

In a Facebook post issued yesterday, the New Jersey chapter of the Sierra Club vowed to challenge the NPS's approval of the line in court.  PPL and PSE&G plan to place the line in service by June 2015.

October 12, 2010 - New England sets record energy use; wind

What do you think sits at the end of this rainbow, seen Friday over the New Meadows River?

New England's regional electric grid operator ISO-NE has announced that the region has set several new records for energy consumption. In July 2010, consumers used 13,385 gigawatt-hours. That just barely beat the previous single-month energy usage of 13,365 GWh, which occurred in July 2006. To explain this high energy usage despite the economic downturn ISO-NE points to the weather: July 2010 was the second-hottest July in New England since 1960. New England also set new heights for peak demand (capacity measured in gigawatts, not energy measured in gigawatt-hours) in May and September 2010.

In wind news: this weekend, while Highland Wind LLC held an open house to promote its wind project in Highland Plantation in Somerset County, Maine, the Friends of the Highland Mountains and other protesters demonstrated their opposition. As originally conceived, the Highland project - backed by former independent Maine Governor Angus King - would entail 48 turbines along the ridgelines of Stewart, Witham and Bald Mountains, plus Briggs and Burnt Hills. The land in question is owned by Bayroot LLC, and has been managed by Wagner Forest Management. Among the protesters' complaints is the proximity of the project to the Bigelow Mountains and the Appalachian Trail.


Google has already made the news for its involvement in energy markets. Now Google is investing in the underwater transmission lines needed to transmit power from offshore wind turbines to the mainland. Specifically, Google is eyeing a 350-mile line from Virginia to New Jersey.