National Grid USA subsidiary GridAmerica Holdings Inc. announced it will hold an open solicitation for capacity on its proposed Northeast Renewable Link transmission project that will be capable of delivering up to 600 MW of power. The route of the 23-mile, 345-kV, alternating-current power line runs from Nassau, N.Y., to an Eversource Energy-owned substation in Hinsdale, Mass., and is expected to be operational in 2022.
In January, Northeast Renewable Link failed to be selected in Massachusetts' solicitation for Canadian hydropower and renewables when National Grid and its Boston-based partner Citizens Energy Corp. submitted the project. The proposed transmission line is meant to transmit a mix of new wind, solar and small hydropower generated in New York.
The open solicitation for 100% of the transmission project's capacity is being held in accordance with a Federal Energy Regulatory Commission policy statement allowing developers of new merchant transmission projects and new nonincumbent, cost-based, participant-funded transmission projects to negotiate directly with potential customers for service over those lines if certain conditions are met.
GridAmerica requested that responses be submitted by June 29 but encouraged them to be submitted before then. It added that the company might immediately commence negotiations if interested parties satisfy required criteria.
