National Grid Drops out of Twin States Clean Energy Link Transmission Project
A proposed new $2 billion transmission project between Quebec and New Hampshire has lost its electric utility partner, National Grid US.
The Twin States Clean Energy Link, a 211-mile, 1,200 MW high voltage direct current power line, had won the support of the Department of Energy with funding from the Transmission Facilitation Program.
National Grid determined, according to multiple reports, that the project was not viable at this time. The project was intended to be bidirectional, bringing hydroelectricity from Quebec to New England when economic conditions were right.
Twin States was one of three that was selected for a piece of the $1.3 billion tranche that the DOE program had offered to transmission line developers. The other two were the Cross-Tie 500kV Transmission Line Project (Nevada to Utah) and the Southline Transmission Project (Arizona to New Mexico).
According to the DOE, needs studies forecast that the U.S. Northeast region will need 1.5 GW of new transfer capacity with its neighbors. This transmission project was to contribute 79% to this need.
