Dive Summary:
- The New England power company Northeast Utilities announced plans Thursday to build a $1.4 billion Northern Pass power transmission line to run from Quebec to New Hampshire. The 1,200-megawatt line will add enough power to electrify more than one million New England homes.
- Pending state and federal approval, the line will deliver mostly hydropower from Hydro-Quebec, Quebec's province-owned power company. Furthermore, Northeast Utilities will own a 187-mile part of the line in New Hampshire and Hydro-Quebec will own the Quebec part.
- Northern utilities says developers will pay for the project rather than customers. But not everyone is happy about the proposed line. "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.
From the article:
“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.”