The evaluation process for choosing Eversource Energy's Northern Pass transmission project as the sole winning bid for Massachusetts' clean energy solicitation is coming under increasing attack for a lack of transparency by the Massachusetts attorney general and a group of New Hampshire lawmakers after a New Hampshire agency denied the power line a needed siting permit.
The New Hampshire legislators also backed National Grid USA's proposed Granite State Power Link transmission project as an alternative to Northern Pass.
In a Feb. 5 letter to New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu, a bipartisan group of 15 state lawmakers urged the Republican governor to switch his support from Northern Pass to the Granite State Power Link in wake of the unfavorable Feb. 1 decision by the state Site Evaluation Committee, or SEC. The siting agency ruled that the developers failed to show that Northern Pass' above- and underground lines would not "unduly interfere with the orderly development of the region."
"The SEC decision should not be taken as a 'no' to energy projects in New Hampshire, but rather as an opportunity to refocus on the right project for our state," said the group of lawmakers, which included House Speaker Gene Chandler and House Minority Leader Stephen Shurtleff.
The lawmakers said the decision by the bid evaluation team — comprised of the Massachusetts Department of Energy Resources, or DOER, an independent evaluator and the state's electric distribution companies, Eversource, National Grid plc's U.S. subsidiary and Unitil Corp. — to choose $1.6 billion Northern Pass line is "now demonstrably flawed" as the project's selection depended "heavily" on its ability to begin delivering up to 1,090 MW of emissions-free Canadian hydroelectricity by 2020.
The lawmakers said the cheaper $1.1 billion Granite State Power Link by National Grid and Citizens Energy Corp. would deliver 1,200 MW of new Canadian wind while minimizing environmental impacts and maximizing the use of existing transmission corridors and infrastructure. "The SEC's vote provides New Hampshire with a unique opportunity to embrace a project that will bring our state all of the benefits with none of the costs," the letter said.
National Grid's proposed power line is slated to be in service by the end of 2022 and would run 59 miles as an overhead 400-kV high-voltage, direct-current line from a new converter station at Norton, Vt., near the U.S.-Canada border to a proposed converter station in Monroe, N.H. The high-voltage, direct-current line's interconnection would require upgrading approximately 109 miles of existing alternating-current transmission lines into Londonderry, N.H., where a proposed 345-kV switching station will be built.
A spokesman for Sununu said that the governor has received the letter and "looks forward to reviewing it."
Chloe Gotsis, a spokeswoman for Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey, agreed that SEC vote "raises questions" about Northern Pass' timetable and commitment to deliver power in 2020. "At a minimum, it appears today's development requires reevaluation of the selection of Northern Pass," Gotsis said in a statement.
As Eversource seeks to appeal the siting decision, Healey wrote to DOER in a Feb. 6 letter to request that the Massachusetts agency confirm that regulators and the independent evaluator will have a say in the evaluation team's reassessment of the Northern Pass bid and possible selection of a new recipient for the 20-year contract. DOER recently asked the three electric distribution companies, or EDCs, to decide by Feb. 9 on whether to stick with Northern Pass or not.
"Under the [request for proposals], the Evaluation Team, not the EDCs alone, determine whether a proposal meets or fails to meet the [request] requirements," Healey said. "Thus, while it may be appropriate for the EDCs to ask for updated information from [Northern Pass Transmission], any assessment or evaluation of the ongoing viability of [Northern Pass Transmission's] bid or other bids rests squarely in the hands of the Evaluation Team, with the Independent Evaluator monitoring deliberations."
Healey also requested that the evaluation team publicly explain in writing its expected assessment on Northern Pass "in light of the certificate denial" and to convene a bidders' conference by Feb. 16 to explain how the procurement evaluation and selection process will proceed.
