(Host) Hydro-Quebec has won preliminary approval for another major transmission line through northern New England.
Utilities say the line will offer another source of electricity for southern New England and potentially Vermont. And they say that by bringing more power into the region, the project could help lower costs.
VPR’s John Dillon reports:
(Dillon) Vermont now gets about a third of its power supply from Quebec, but those contracts expire by the middle of the next decade.
The state’s utilities are negotiating new contracts with the provincial utility. And they say the power line – which is planned to run through New Hampshire – offers new options. Bob Young is CEO of Central Vermont Public Service Corporation.
(Young) "We welcome it. We think it really may allow the region to have more and greater access to renewable energy resources."
(Dillon) The Federal Regulatory Energy Commission has approved the funding mechanism for the project, which will carry about 1,200 megawatts into New England.
Young says that by bringing more transmission capacity into New England, the project could lower costs.
(Young) "We are looking very hard at is as a way to provide power in our future mix as well as talking with HQ in the same context about power resources that could come to us through other transmission mechanisms as well."
(Dillon) Green Mountain Power is also interested in the project. Dorothy Schnure is a company spokeswoman.
(Schnure) "We think overall it’s positive in that it would increase the amount of hydropower in the region, and probably decrease the need for some fossil fuels. So it would have the overall effect of reducing greenhouse gas emissions."
(Dillon) Hydro-Quebec is the world’s largest producer of hydroelectricity and is now developing an additional 4,000 megawatts from new dams and generators in the northern part of the province.
The new line will allow Hydro-Quebec to export significantly more electricity. And that prospect is likely to renew concern about the environmental impact of hydro development in northern Quebec.
To generate the electricity, HQ dams rivers and creates huge reservoirs. Alexander Lee is an environmentalist in Concord, New Hampshire. He says the flooded land releases methane and carbon dioxide as the vegetation decomposes.
(Lee) "We need to focus on this, because when you flood an area the size of Delaware and it basically off-gases for 20 or 30 years, you’re creating an environmental problem."
(Dillon) Hydro-Quebec says the project will reduce greenhouse gas emissions by replacing generation from fossil fuels.
But Lee – who runs an organization that encourages people to turn off their clothes dryers and hang their laundry outside – says energy conservation should be the first priority.
For VPR News, I’m John Dillon in Montpelier.