Massive NH-VT Renewable Transmission Line Plan Scrapped After Project Deemed “Not Viable”
By Seamus Othot
March 11, 2024
EXCERPTS:
“National Grid thanks the dozens of route communities and regional partners who engaged with us and supported this project,” said the electrical utility company. “We will continue to pursue paths to building much-needed transmission capacity for the region and for our customers and communities.”
The transmission line, the so-called Twin State Clean Energy Link, was planned to be a 211-mile-long line through Vermont and New Hampshire, connecting New England to renewable energy sources — wind, solar, and hydro — in Canada.
The transmission line would have functioned two-ways, allowing New England to purchase clean energy from Canada, and also allow New England to sell energy into Canada, depending on market conditions.
National Grid, the N.Y.- and Mass.-based company which would have built the line, highlighted the possibility of selling power from offshore wind projects, such as the controversial project being proposed in Maine......................................
....................................Currently, Maine is struggling to construct its own clean energy transmission line as part of the so-called Aroostook Renewable Energy Gateway, which would be a 116-mile-long transmission line. That proposed line would connect a massive planned wind power facility in Northern Maine to the New England energy grid.
Although Maine’s line plan has not been officially cancelled, it has encountered numerous roadblocks, and has not yet begun construction. Maine is currently searching for a new contractor to construct the line after the previous contractor, LS power, was unable to undertake the project for the agreed upon price.
The Aroostook Renewable Gateway has also faced opposition from the public, and has contended with legislative efforts to halt the line’s construction.
Mainers and some legislators have opposed the line largely on the grounds that construction will require the use of eminent domain to seize the land necessary for the 160-mile-long, 115-foot-wide transmission corridor.
Before it was cancelled, the Twin State Line was scheduled to be built along pre-existing transmission corridors and placed underground along roadways, avoiding the need to seize land with eminent domain.
The cancellation of the Twin State Line does not bode well for Maine’s embattled renewable energy projects.
The full article appears at https://www.themainewire.com/2024/03/massive-new-england-renewable-...
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Comment by Dan McKay on March 12, 2024 at 9:09am
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The commonality with this project as well as 3 other multibillion dollar transmission corridors is the direct connection to Massachusetts. Among the six New England states, Massachusetts does not have a secure future to claim net zero carbon in the electric sector on their own sovereign land, so they look for imported power. So far, they have a transmission line from Canada slicing through New Hampshire terminating at a substation just outside of Boston, called "Hydro-Quebec Phase I" on the ISO-NE " ISO Express" website. More than 1000 megawatts is deliverable and solely dedicated to Massachusetts use.Soon a second line known as the NECEC Line will deliver power into the New England grid, switching from DC to AC electricity at a substation in Lewiston, Maine. Current operational power plants in Maine are adequately able to supply Maine's needs, so a good portion of the 1200 megawatts flowing from Canada to Lewiston will export a secure amount of power flowing out of Maine to destinations south.Massachusetts' appetite for imported power now set sights on a little project called the " Northern Maine Renewable Energy Development Program" that could evolve into a 3000 megawatt plus mega-development with a transmission infrastructure which is becoming overwhelmingly unpopular to Maine residents, for good reason. How much more are Maine people supposed to sacrifice for Massachusetts and its poorly thought-out greenhouse gas reduction policies.The project terminated by National Grid was another multi-megawatt development to advance Massachusetts' renewable goals, with a good chance of rejection by New Hampshire and Vermont residents.Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont can claim their individually established renewable energy goals from existing emission-free, in-state plants, notably wind, solar, biomass, hydro and in the case of New Hampshire, nuclear.Massachusetts has no rights to Maine land, New Hampshire land nor Vermont land. Massachusetts has an aggressive plan to install offshore wind developments. That is where they can go for broke and abandon their designs for imported power across others' lands.Sovereignty is everything.
Maine as Third World Country:
CMP Transmission Rate Skyrockets 19.6% Due to Wind Power
Click here to read how the Maine ratepayer has been sold down the river by the Angus King cabal.
Maine Center For Public Interest Reporting – Three Part Series: A CRITICAL LOOK AT MAINE’S WIND ACT
******** IF LINKS BELOW DON'T WORK, GOOGLE THEM*********
(excerpts) From Part 1 – On Maine’s Wind Law “Once the committee passed the wind energy bill on to the full House and Senate, lawmakers there didn’t even debate it. They passed it unanimously and with no discussion. House Majority Leader Hannah Pingree, a Democrat from North Haven, says legislators probably didn’t know how many turbines would be constructed in Maine if the law’s goals were met." . – Maine Center for Public Interest Reporting, August 2010 https://www.pinetreewatchdog.org/wind-power-bandwagon-hits-bumps-in-the-road-3/From Part 2 – On Wind and Oil Yet using wind energy doesn’t lower dependence on imported foreign oil. That’s because the majority of imported oil in Maine is used for heating and transportation. And switching our dependence from foreign oil to Maine-produced electricity isn’t likely to happen very soon, says Bartlett. “Right now, people can’t switch to electric cars and heating – if they did, we’d be in trouble.” So was one of the fundamental premises of the task force false, or at least misleading?" https://www.pinetreewatchdog.org/wind-swept-task-force-set-the-rules/From Part 3 – On Wind-Required New Transmission Lines Finally, the building of enormous, high-voltage transmission lines that the regional electricity system operator says are required to move substantial amounts of wind power to markets south of Maine was never even discussed by the task force – an omission that Mills said will come to haunt the state.“If you try to put 2,500 or 3,000 megawatts in northern or eastern Maine – oh, my god, try to build the transmission!” said Mills. “It’s not just the towers, it’s the lines – that’s when I begin to think that the goal is a little farfetched.” https://www.pinetreewatchdog.org/flaws-in-bill-like-skating-with-dull-skates/
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Hannah Pingree on the Maine expedited wind law
Hannah Pingree - Director of Maine's Office of Innovation and the Future
"Once the committee passed the wind energy bill on to the full House and Senate, lawmakers there didn’t even debate it. They passed it unanimously and with no discussion. House Majority Leader Hannah Pingree, a Democrat from North Haven, says legislators probably didn’t know how many turbines would be constructed in Maine."
https://pinetreewatch.org/wind-power-bandwagon-hits-bumps-in-the-road-3/
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