National Grid pulls plug on hydropower project | Energy | unionleader.com - The Union Leader
National Grid pulls plug on hydropower project | Energy | unionleader.com
The proposed route for the Twin States Clean Energy Link power transmission project runs from the Canadian border in Vermont to a new power substation in Londonderry. The green path indicates underground cable along state roads. The red path indicates existing overhead transmission corridors.
TWIN STATES CLEAN ENERGY
A project to bring more sustainable hydropower to New England is a no-go, even with strong support from state entities and the federal government.
The proposed $2 billion Twin States Clean Energy Link would have run 211 miles from Quebec through Vermont and New Hampshire. In New Hampshire, about 110 miles from Londonderry north to Monroe would use existing rights of way, with another 25 miles buried from Monroe to Dalton.
Related Knowledge Center: Offshore wind energy
Over the next decade, U.S. offshore wind power is expected to grow from a single 30-megawatt wind farm off Rhode Island to more than 2,000 MW of capacity along the Atlantic Seaboard. There are contracts for wind power off the coasts of Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, Maryland, New Jersey, Rhode Island, and Virginia.
The National Renewable Energy Laboratory has estimated the United States has over 4,000 gigawatts (GW) of offshore wind potential, enough to power the country four times over.
The growth in part being spurred by state solicitations, including in New York, where then-Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) set a commitment of 9,000 MW of offshore wind by 2035, and in Connecticut, where in June 2021, Gov. Ned Lamont (D) signed legislation authorizing the construction of 2,000 MW of offshore wind by 2030.
The offshore development is also being driven by an investment tax credit set to end in December 2019 and is equal to 12 percent of expenditures. U.S. Sens. Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Tom Carper (D-Del.) have introduced a bill to extend the tax credit for up to eight years.
The Interior Department has held eight competitive lease sales that resulted in 15 offshore wind leases over 1.7 million acres that has the potential for 21 GW of capacity. In February 2022, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management completed a bidding process that realized $4.37 billion for 488,000 acres across six lease areas in federal waters off New York and New Jersey.
Projects have also been proposed off the Southeast coast, off California and Hawaii, and for the Great Lakes.