A massive $2 billion energy transmission line through New England has been scrapped after the company undertaking the project deemed it “non-viable.”
[RELATED: Unpopular “Aroostook Renewable Gateway” May Face More Roadblocks…]
“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.
[RELATED: Mills Designates the Pristine Sears Island to be Developed For Offshore Wind…]
The company claimed that the project would have created $8.3 billion in wholesale energy savings and 1,200 jobs.
The Twin State line was selected by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) as one of three transmission lines to benefit from a $1.3 Billion federal program from the Biden Administration meant to further renewable energy infrastructure.
The program included a pledge from the DOE to purchase a percentage of the total proposed capacity of the selected lines using taxpayer funds.
The company did not elaborate on the reason for the project’s cancellation, but promised to continue working towards energy transmission for New England.
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.
Several years ago the late T. Boone Pickens canceled plans for a huge wind farm project in TX because he couldn’t find anyone willing to build the transmission lines to get the power to market. The best sites for generating wind-based energy were not near population centers.
The commonality with this project as well as 3 other multi billion 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.
Strange how liberals and environmentalist will destroy, and take peoples land for huge transmission towers and lines when the electricity is imported clean, environmentally friendly, in their view. But fight against those very things when it is electricity produced here with any other fuel. Even natural gas. That is called a double standard and ridiculous. This is what happens when politicians make energy policy instead of educated individuals who have no monetary gain to achieve. Being an engineer in multiple fields, I can tell you this is all for nothing.