Eversource Energy is appealing New Hampshire regulators' refusal to grant a siting permit to its 1,090-MW Northern Pass transmission project and sweetened the proposal by adding 75 conditional concessions. The proposed $1.6 billion high-voltage direct-current line was initially picked by Massachusetts to deliver emissions-free Canadian hydropower from Hydro-Québec into New England.
Eversource subsidiary Northern Pass Transmission LLC on Feb. 28 asked the New Hampshire Site Evaluation Committee to vacate its unanimous Feb. 1 siting decision that Eversource failed to show that Northern Pass would not "unduly interfere with the orderly development of the region."
The motion also outlined 75 additional Eversource commitments to overcome concerns raised by the committee and secure siting approval for the HVDC project. Eversource has already altered plans for the 192-mile project to appease landowners and conservationists by agreeing to bury up to 60 miles of power lines along roads to preserve scenic mountain views. The new commitments include spending $200 million on local economic development, mitigating property devaluation, promoting tourism and clean energy innovation.
Eversource New Hampshire President Bill Quinlan said during a media call that the company could not have "anticipated" the siting committee's concerns about Northern Pass until they deliberated, which he said was cut short unexpectedly. "Now that we have the benefit of hearing them deliberate, we know exactly what its going to take to overcome them, and that's the foundation for these commitments," he said.
Other commitments include Eversource engaging in horizontal directional drilling in the downtown areas of Plymouth and Franconia to reduce construction impacts, providing up to $300 million in energy cost benefits for customers, making transmission upgrades to facilitate 400 MW of existing renewables and $50 million of new small-scale renewable generation, establishing a $20 million energy efficiency program and spending $7.5 million to support job growth in the northern part of the state.
Eversource has until March 27 to reverse the permit denial or Massachusetts will move on with its clean energy procurement, which initially chose Northern Pass as the sole winning bid. An alternative bid — Avangrid Inc. subsidiary Central Maine Power Co.'s 145-mile New England Clean Energy Connect transmission project — was selected by Massachusetts as the runner-up project to deliver 1,200-MW of wind and hydropower through Maine at a cost of $950 million.
On a recent earnings call, Eversource told investors that the utility will achieve its forecast growth rate of 5% to 7% through 2021 "with or without Northern Pass."
