Plan may run power cable under Lake Champlain

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February 27, 2010

By DENISE RAYMO The Press Republican Sat Feb 27, 2010, 10:04 AM EST

PLATTSBURGH — International investors want to build an electrical-transmission system under Lake Champlain to carry power to the Eastern Seaboard.

The Champlain-Hudson Power Express proposed by Transmission Developers Inc. would be a $3.8 billion, high-voltage, direct-current line that would run from Canada to Connecticut.

UNDER-LAKE LINE

Rather than using overland power lines and lofty towers, a single cable would lead from the Richelieu River in Quebec under Lake Champlain through the Champlain Canal to the Hudson River.

From there, the cable would move above ground along existing railroad rights-of-way into Yonkers, to avoid ongoing removal of PCBs from the river, then go back underwater for the final 65 miles to a converter station in Bridgeport, Conn.

The cable would carry 2,000 megawatts of power from new sources, Transmission Developers said.

50 JOBS

About 50 construction jobs would be created, and it would take four years to build before the system would go online in 2015.

“This project will deliver renewable power to meet growing energy demand, increase electric-grid security and reduce consumer energy costs,” Donald Jessome, company president and chief-executive officer, said in a news release.

“This innovative project offers real opportunity to deliver low-cost power to areas in need with minimal disruption to local communities and environments.”

Transmission Developers, which is owned by the Blackstone Group with offices in London, Paris, Atlanta and Albany, has proposed similar projects in Maine, Massachusetts and Connecticut.

NYPA PLAN

Another cheap-power proposal, announced in August by the New York Power Authority, also involves an agreement between the United States and Canada and would create a $4 billion-to-$6 billion international system crossing into New York at Buffalo.

NYPA’s system would produce 2,000 megawatts of power from renewable Canadian sources and the North Country’s existing wind farms, which have few places to transmit the power they produce.

The Power Authority hopes to be in the state-permitting process with the New York State Public Service Commission during the first half of 2010.

The project build-out would take six to eight years.

Transmission Developers’ proposal is also subject to permits through the commission, as well as regulators in Connecticut.

‘LEADING ROLE’

National Grid officials say they are not involved with the proposed Lake Champlain project but will work with state officials on its energy needs.

“As owner and operator of significant transmission assets in New York, National Grid is involved with the state’s other transmission owners to examine the state’s needs for transmission,” said Alberto Bianchetti of the power company’s corporate-communications office.

“We do expect to play a leading role in the development of the region’s transmission solutions for bringing reliable, economical and clean electrical transmission to the state.”

FINANCING

Transmission Development has a loan application pending with the U.S. Department of Energy to help the Blackstone Group with additional financing and is working with Nalcor Energy on a feasibility study for the project.

The 355-mile line will be discussed at a series of public meetings in communities along the lake, but no dates or meeting locations have been set.

The underground technology would map the lake bottom, create a shallow trench in which to lay the cable, then use a wheeled machine to straddle the cable and bury it a few inches.

This method disturbs the ground as little and possible to protect the surrounding environmentally sensitive aquatic life and plants, the company states.

More information on the project may be obtained by visiting the Web site www.CHPExpress.com.

E-mail Denise A. Raymo at:

draymo@pressrepublican.com