FYI: Northern Pass High Voltage Transmission Project

[peakbagger]

Its back

http://www.nhpr.org/post/supreme-court-accepts-eversource-appeal-northern-pass-rejection#stream/0

It will be interesting to see how quickly they rule. They cant issue the permit so they need to go back to the SEC and tell them what they did wrong.

The transmission line in Maine is still in the permitting phase with increasing opposition. Pilgrim Nuclear Power plant will be gone in 2019.

 

[peakbagger]

Today is the day NP goes before the NH Supreme Court. The demand for power is still there even if the Maine project goes as the general consensus is that New England needs 3000 MW of new "renewable" generation. Hydro Quebec is actively pursuing more costly routes through New York but expect if the NP were to ever get permitted there would be buyer and HQ would gladly sell into it. The SEC makeup has changed, the NH governor has packed it with his supporters who are Pro NP and expect many of the groups opposing the project would need to build up support and funding again while Eversource has an open check book.

https://www.nhpr.org/post/nh-supreme-court-hears-oral-arguments-northern-pass-wednesday

 

[peakbagger]

Today's Colebrook Chronicle has more details in the hearing before the court. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Rkw5GU6UsFics-B6-1x7UF6D377Piwji/view

Some of the judges questions sure look like NP is going to have a tough time of it. I do get a chuckle that the NP wants to continue the case with new members of the SEC able to refer back to the record. The record is thousands of pages and lacks any of the impact of live public hearings.

 

[peakbagger]

The Supreme Court is supposed to be ruling on the appeal today. Expect fireworks no matter which way if goes.

 

[Vermonster]

It will be interesting to see what impact this has on the Balsams project and the major wind project planned north of Dixville on Bayroot (Yale endowment) land.

 

[sierra]

The Governor also weighed in, basically he said, its over.

 

[Salty]

The Governor also weighed in, basically he said, its over.

Perhaps someone should tell Eversource that...

“We will closely review the Supreme Court’s decision and evaluate all potential options for moving forward."

 

[peakbagger]

Eversource has a Capital Works In Progress (CWIP) problem. Typically when a large project is being developed, all the expenses (reportedly in the $250 to 300 million range) gets put in CIP account that is kept out of day to day operations. It effectively not reported on the books under the assumption that once its approved the upfront capital will be spread over the life of the project. Once the project is dead the CWIP needs to hit the books in one big chunk so now management has to explain to the shareholders why they took such a big loss. The CEO for several years was personally assuring shareholders that the project would go. The normal approach by management is hope they get promoted or retire before the charges land. I expect a few retirements and lateral transfers. Maybe Martin Murray will go away

They also have a lot of useless land and and right of ways up north that need to be managed. Reportedly the land was bought by the regulated side of the business and they are going to have to explain to the PUC why the ratepayer should have paid for this land. I expect SPHNF will pay them ten cents on dollar.

 

[Vermonster]

It wasn't all bad news for Eversource last week. NY awarded a joint venture between Eversource and Orsted one of two contracts for offshore wind.

 

[peakbagger]

It will be interesting to see what impact this has on the Balsams project and the major wind project planned north of Dixville on Bayroot (Yale endowment) land.

BTW, IMHO, the big wind farm on Bayroot land tied to the NP project was a red herring. The line was being built strictly to move HQ power and even if a converter station was built to convert the AC power produced by the turbines to DC, any power from a wind farm would reduce the amount of HQ power through the line. Pure speculation on my part was that the wind farm developer would have easier access to the AC Coos transmission loop as a new power line right of way could be built adjacent to NP right of way. Despite claiming that an up grade of the Coos loop was tied to a NP approval, Eversource has been actively upgrading the Coos loop for the last three years as Northern NH currently can produce more renewable power than could be transmitted by the loop. Eversource is in the transmission business so it didnt make a lot of sense that there were limiting their profits on transmission of locally produced renewable power with outdated transmission lines.

 

[TCD]

It wasn't all bad news for Eversource last week. NY awarded a joint venture between Eversource and Orsted one of two contracts for offshore wind.

May be great news for Eversource; I saw that their stock is up on this announcement.

But as New York State resident, I'm not sure it's good news for me.

>This "green show" is just Cuomo trying to "outgreen" his potential 2024 opponents. Nothing in this about the necessary storage, or re-design of the grid. So all this will do, electricity-wise, is disrupt the grid, increase rates, and increase the incidence of outages.

>I read three different articles, and I could not find out how much of my tax money is being spent on this boondoggle. "Contracts were awarded" but not a word about how many dollars - I suppose that's no surprise? All the articles talk about how much the eventual build out will be worth (3-5 billion, depending on the article). But in reality, I will probably end up paying for all of it anyway.

 

[Raven]

The people of New Hampshire have spoken loudly, clearly, and with tenacity and intention. Just.

Now we sing.

"Na na na na
Na na na na
Hey hey hey
Good bye."

 

[peakbagger]

Well time to close the thread, Eversource made it official.

http://indepthnh.org/2019/07/25/eversource-gives-up-northern-pass/

 

[Salty]

About freaking time (Eversource, not the thread!). Thanks for all the updates over the years. Sadly, above the notches I expect a lasting effect of all this, that being animosity to those who chose to sell out to NP, regardless of what the outcome ultimately was.

 

[TCD]

Yeah funny timing. Now that they have a green sucker in New York's Cuomo, they get another crowd of taxpayers to sink the green fang into, and suddenly they're OK bailing on NP. To NH NP opponents, you're welcome (I guess). Looking soon at FL residency...