December 1, 2017
New York

National Grid withdraws application for Vermont Green Line in NY

By Corina Rivera Linares, Chief Analyst, TransmissionHub | 11/30/2017 | www.elp.com

Vermont Green Line Devco told the New York State Public Service Commission that it withdraws without prejudice its Article VII application for the Vermont Green Line transmission project.

“The applicant greatly appreciates the attention to this matter provided by the commission and the parties,” the company said in its letter to the commission. “While the applicant hopes that it may be able to construct and operate the project in the future, circumstances beyond its control require it to withdraw the petition at this point. The applicant understands that any future review by the commission of this project would restart the Article VII process.”

As noted on the project’s website, Vermont Green Line Devco has proposed to build the estimated $600 million, 60-mile, underground and underwater electric transmission cable to deliver 400 MW of clean energy to New England.

The preferred cable route would interconnect with the existing power grid at a new converter station in Beekmantown, N.Y., travel under Lake Champlain, and connect to another new converter station in New Haven, Vt. All land cables would be underground, the site added.

As noted in a January statement, the project’s co-developers, National Grid, Anbaric, and Citizens Energy, announced the conversion of National Grid’s and Citizen’s development loans to an equity investment in the project. National Grid will assume primary responsibility for developing the project, according to the statement.

A National Grid spokesperson on Nov. 28 told TransmissionHub that the project is one of several transmission projects proposed by National Grid to achieve greenhouse gas reduction goals and help create a clean energy future.

“During the permitting process, [Vermont Green Line, or] VGL identified stakeholder concerns that cannot be resolved in a timeframe that aligns with our planned permitting schedules,” the spokesperson said. “Our intent is to resume with project development, but we need to wait and see how the outcome of the large-scale Massachusetts renewable energy procurement will impact the energy landscape. Therefore, the VGL project team has withdrawn its New York Article VII and VT 248/231 applications.”

The project – which is designed to deliver power to New England by harnessing new wind power generation in New York, firmed up by hydropower – is being proposed by National Grid’s U.S. commercial business development group. The project’s development would be funded by National Grid and its investors, not customers of the regulated businesses.