A transmission project designed to transport 1,200 megawatts of power between New England and Canada “is not viable at this time,” a spokesperson for National Grid said on March 5.
“We are grateful for the selection of the Twin States Clean Energy Link by the U.S. Department of Energy through their Transmission Facilitation Program,” Christine Milligan, Principal Program Manager, Corporate Affairs at National Grid, told APPA’s Public Power Current.
“National Grid thanks the dozens of route communities and regional partners who engaged with us and supported this project. We will continue to pursue paths to building much-needed transmission capacity for the region and for our customers and communities,” she said.
National Grid did not provide additional details on its decision not to pursue the transmission project at this time.
In October 2023, the DOE announced up to a $1.3 billion commitment in three transmission lines crossing six states including the Twin States Clean Energy Link.
“Twin States is a proposed high-voltage direct current bidirectional line that will expand the capacity of the New England electric grid and improve its resiliency, reliability, and efficiency by providing access to clean firm energy supplies in Quebec, Canada,” DOE noted at the time.
The bidirectional design of the Twin States line “will also allow the New England grid to export power to Canada when New England is producing more energy than it needs to meet its own demand, which is expected to occur as the offshore wind industry in New England expands,” DOE said.
A DOE National Transmission Needs Study predicted the Northeast region will need 1.5 gigawatts of new transfer capacity with its neighbors. Twin States was expected to provide 79% to this interregional need, DOE said.
