NECEC: Project Progress

In early 2018, the state of Massachusetts chose Hydro-Québec’s energy to meet its clean energy needs, and over the following months the New England Clean Energy Connect (NECEC) transmission project, through Maine, was ultimately selected. Contracts were signed this summer with Massachusetts electric distribution companies. Regulatory authorizations are now being sought in Massachusetts to validate the commercial agreements and, in Maine, to obtain the permits required to build the NECEC.

NECEC developer Central Maine Power (CMP) plans to build a 230 km overhead transmission line between the Québec Maine border and the city of Lewiston. Today CMP presented an amendment to its line route to the Maine Department of Environmental Protection. The modified route would see the undergrounding of the transmission line over a distance of approximately one kilometre in order to accommodate a protected area of the Kennebec River. An overhead-underground junction station would be built at each end of this underground section. From the project’s outset, CMP had identified the Kennebec Gorge as a sensitive area.

In Québec: the Appalaches–Maine interconnection project

In Québec, the project calls for the  building of a transmission line extending approximately 100 km between the Appalaches substation, near Thetford Mines, and a connection point on the Québec-Maine border.

Since the spring of 2018, Hydro-Québec has held over 30 meetings with local organizations. These discussions have provided us with more knowledge about the area and insight into local concerns and needs with respect to land-use planning. This information will help us develop possible variants, which will be presented to and discussed with host communities over the coming weeks.

Our goal is to develop a line route that has the least possible impact and that takes into account the concerns expressed by the communities.