Work on the corridor that aims to bring hydropower from Canada through western Maine is set to resume Thursday, but not with crews flocking to different areas across the 145-mile transmission line.
Only 10 to 20 employees are expected to work inside the Lewiston substation that will convert direct current from the line to alternating current for consumer use, a spokesperson for the project said.
A court in April cleared the way for the project to restart, but obstacles remain. Political and legal challenges to the corridor delayed it long enough to jack up the price 50 percent to $1.5 billion, largely because of inflation. There is no hard timeline for when work in the woods to install poles and wires will resume, spokesperson Ted Varipatis said. Most of the corridor has been cleared and some shorter vegetation is regrowing.
The restart of work will mark a new phase of the five-year battle over the corridor, which included Gov. Janet Mills asking NECEC Transmission, the Central Maine Power Co. affiliate overseeing its construction, to stop work on it in November 2021 while a court wrangled over whether to enforce a citizen referendum to stop the corridor.
A jury unanimously sided with the corridor’s developers this spring, saying they had a constitutional right to proceed. In May the Department of Environmental Protection said work could resume. Last week the developers filed a notice with the Maine Department of Environmental Protection that they plan to restart work on Thursday.
The original power purchase contracts among Hydro-Quebec, its partner CMP and Massachusetts electric distribution companies that were approved by Massachusetts regulators in 2019 are now under review. The electric distribution companies deliver electricity to homes and businesses.
The Massachusetts House of Representatives already has approved renegotiation of the project’s costs between the developers and Massachusetts utilities. The Senate and Gov. Maura Healey, a Democrat who was skeptical of the project’s climate benefits when she was attorney general, must weigh in on it.
One appealing aspect of the original contract called for the project to be funded entirely by Massachusetts ratepayers, but renegotiations would determine how any additional costs would be shared, according to the Associated Press. The project is important to Massachusetts to achieve its climate goals.
The project also has an agreement to extend the commercial operation date because of the change in the law, if needed, Pedro Blazquez, CEO of Avangrid, CMP’s parent, told investors on an earnings call last week. The transmission line was originally scheduled to be operational this year, according to the company. Blazquez said $638 million has been spent on the project to date.
The power purchase contracts are being challenged in Massachusetts by Allco Renewable Energy of New Haven, Connecticut. That company asked the Federal Energy Regulatory Committee in mid-July to void the contracts because they allegedly exclude the possibility for most smaller energy projects to participate, which is a violation of the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act.
Allco could sue in federal court if FERC doesn’t bring an enforcement action against the Massachusetts Department of Energy Resources and the Massachusetts Department of Public Utilities, according to Utility Dive.
