By GARRY RAYNO, InDepthNH.org
CONCORD — It may not be Northern Pass, but the regional grid manager has selected Eversource’s Transmission Initiative Down East (TIDE) system upgrade to meet growing regional demands for power.
ISO New England, the grid manager, selected the joint project of Eversource and Avangrid as the preferred long-term transmission solution to meet regional needs outlined in ISO-NE’s competitive bid process.
The two utilities say the project will enhance reliability for customers and enable new energy supply sources in northern New England – easing congestion on the regional transmission system and helping to address affordability.
The project would allow up to 1,200 megawatts of future onshore wind generation in Northern New England to be integrated into the regional grid.
Eversource Director of External Communication William Hinkle said while ISO NE made the award, the project will still have to go through the normal permitting and regulatory processes.
“That is not to suggest it is a done deal at this point and time,” he said, “but it is a critical first step.”
He said The New England States Committees on Electricity asked ISO-NE to develop a competitive process for bringing the energy from a number of wind power proposals in the far north down to the rest of New England.
Hinkle said the project will benefit all of New England as it will help relieve congestion like that around the Seabrook Station area which will lower costs and provide access to more affordable power.
Eversource’s portion of the TIDE project will involve upgrades and replacement of infrastructure within existing rights-of-way in New Hampshire, with additional work in Maine and Massachusetts.
The New Hampshire portion of the project will include:
- Building a new 18-mile, 345 kilovolt (kV) line that utilizes a monopole design within the existing right-of-way from Rochester to Deerfield, and rebuilding the existing 345 kV line from a two-pole, H-frame design to a single-pole, monopole design.
- Replace the wire on the existing 345 kV lines in the existing right-of-way between Deerfield Substation and Scobie Pond/Londonderry Substation, and install equipment to regulate voltage and power quality on Eversource-owned property adjacent to the Deerfield and Londonderry substations.
The Maine portion of the project will include:
- Replacing the wire along a 4.5-mile segment of the existing 115 kV line in the existing Eliot, Maine, right-of-way.
The Massachusetts portion of the project will include:
- Installing equipment to help regulate voltage and power quality on Eversource-owned property adjacent to the Woburn Substation.
Project officials say the project is designed to maximize the use of established transmission rights-of-way and existing infrastructure, which minimizes environmental and community impacts while delivering added capacity, strengthening the grid, and relieving energy bottlenecks for the entire region.
Avangrid built the controversial $1.6 billion New England Clean Energy Connect transmission project in Maine to flow Hydro-Quebec power to Massachusetts. Hydro-Quebec turned to the NECEC project after New Hampshire regulators turned down the Northern Pass Transmission Project proposed by Eversource.
Avangrid tangled legally with NextEra, which owns Seabrook Station, over a needed circuit-breaker upgrade at the facility before power could flow from Quebec.
Avangrid accused NextEra of intentionally delaying the safety upgrade and blocking the project to protect its own fossil fuel and nuclear profit margins.
NextEra said it was not required to do the upgrade, and if it were required to do so, it would only be for Avangrid’s profits.
ISO NE said the upgrade was needed to protect the grid and eventually the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission ordered NextEra to install the breaker and its decision was upheld by a federal court.
Avangrid filed a $350 million antitrust lawsuit against NextEra but it was dismissed in federal court.
The TIDE project would allow the additional energy from Northern Maine wind farms to bypass the congested path through the Seabrook Station transmission system.
Through ISO-NE’s competitive bid process, TIDE was determined to be the strongest proposal and most cost-effective to meet the region’s energy needs with significant customer benefits.
“This selection is an important step toward delivering the modern, reliable transmission infrastructure New England needs while enabling new supply resources that are so critical to addressing our region’s longstanding energy affordability challenges,” said Bill Quinlan, President of Transmission at Eversource. “Transmission solutions like this project can help improve affordability for customers across New Hampshire and all of New England by enabling greater supply capacity and easing congestion costs while also ensuring customers have the highly reliable service they demand. We look forward to further engagement with our communities, ISO New England and other stakeholders to bring these benefits to the region.”
The proposed project still requires extensive engineering, environmental, permitting and regulatory reviews, with construction anticipated to begin in 2029 pending all state and regulatory approvals.
The Maine Public Utilities Commission recently approved an 800 megawatt wind farm in Aroostook County proposed by San Francisco-based Clearway Energy Group.
The regional alternative energy initiative is supported by Maine, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Vermont, but not New Hampshire.
Avangrid was selected to build the transmission line to connect to the regional grid by Maine regulators.
According to ISO New England’s analysis, TIDE is projected to provide substantial regional benefits at a more than 2-to-1 cost-benefit ratio, including:
- $1.42 billion in production cost and congestion savings,
- $1.30 billion in avoided capital investment,
- $694 million in avoided transmission investment, which ultimately equates to significant savings for customers.
To learn more about the Transmission Initiative Down East project, visit Eversource’s website.
Garry Rayno may be reached at garry.rayno@yahoo.com.