Northern Pass dealt a regulatory blow

A NEW HAMPSHIRE REGULATORY AGENCY said on Thursday it won’t be able to meet its Sept. 30 deadline for making a go-no go decision on Eversource’s Northern Pass transmission project. The agency is now promising an oral decision by the end of February and a written decision a month later.

Eversource, which is vying for an enormous clean energy contract from the state of Massachusetts, has been telling Bay State officials that it would have all its permits for the transmission line in hand by the end of this year and be operational in 2020.

The New Hampshire Site Evaluation Committee’s postponement raises some tricky issues for the $1.6 billion Northern Pass project, which is designed to carry hydroelectricity and/or wind power from Quebec into New England. Massachusetts officials are planning to select the winning bids for the clean energy contract on Jan. 25 and execute contracts with winners by March 27. While the New Hampshire postponement decision isn’t fatal to Northern Pass, it means Massachusetts officials will have to award the contract without knowing whether the project has cleared its major hurdle in New Hampshire.

Officials with the New Hampshire Site Evaluation Commission did not return phone calls.

Kaitlyn Woods, a spokeswoman for Eversource, said the site evaluation committee postponed its decision to accommodate cross-examination requests from interveners. She said some of the cross-examination requests seem to be designed to delay the process, but she said Eversource was heartened by the evaluation committee’s willingness to pursue options to conclude the review earlier.

Despite the setback, Woods said Eversource officials remain confident the project will move ahead. ”

A New Hampshire regulatory agency said on Thursday it won’t be able to meet its Sept. 30 deadline for making a go-no go decision on Eversource’s Northern Pass transmission project. The agency is now promising an oral decision by the end of February and a written decision a month later.

Eversource, which is vying for an enormous clean energy contract from the state of Massachusetts, has been telling Bay State officials that it would have all its permits for the transmission line in hand by the end of this year and be operational in 2020.

The New Hampshire Site Evaluation Committee’s postponement raises some tricky issues for the $1.6 billion Northern Pass project, which is designed to carry hydroelectricity and/or wind power from Quebec into New England. Massachusetts officials are planning to select the winning bids for the clean energy contract on Jan. 25 and execute contracts with winners by March 27. While the New Hampshire postponement decision isn’t fatal to Northern Pass, it means Massachusetts officials will have to award the contract without knowing whether the project has cleared its major hurdle in New Hampshire.

Officials with the New Hampshire Site Evaluation Commission did not return phone calls.

Kaitlyn Woods, a spokeswoman for Eversource, said the site evaluation committee postponed its decision to accommodate cross-examination requests from interveners. She said some of the cross-examination requests seem to be designed to delay the process, but added that Eversource was heartened by the site evaluation committee’s willingness to explore ways to conclude the process ahead of the new deadlines.

Despite the setback, Woods said Eversource officials remain confident the project will move ahead. “We remain confident in our ability to achieve a 2020 in-service date,” the company said in a statement. “Further, we are convinced that we have submitted the most mature project into the Massachusetts Clean Energy RFP and we continue to believe that we will be in a position to start construction in the second quarter of 2018.”

 

Brian Murphy, business manager for a New Hampshire union representing electrical linemen, said the postponement “highlights a lack of leadership in the state.” He said there is a legal requirement that the New Hampshire Site Evaluation Committee make its decisions in nine months, but the postponement will extend the decision-making process to more than two years.

“These delays continue to hurt the economy and kill jobs in the state,” Murphy said in an emailed statement. “New Hampshire is mired in a regulatory swamp.”