Dive Brief:
- Northeast Utilities is holding off on building a 345-kV transmission line in the Greater Hartford area of Connecticut while it rethinks whether the project is needed to ensure reliability in the state.
- The $338 million Central Connecticut Reliability Project is part of the so-called New England East-West Solutions transmission initiative.
- ISO New England will conduct a study as to whether the line is still needed, with an eye toward completing it by early in 2014.
Dive Insight:
The saga of the Connecticut line is being played out elsewhere in the nation. Many major projects were first conceived before the economic downturn in 2008 and are being re-evaluated as electricity demand has not grown to anticipated levels. Connecticut has the highest electricity rates in the lower 48 states and they are likely to stay that way without new power lines to move power efficiently around the ISO New England grid.