CommonWealth Magazine: "Mass.-financed power line from Quebec clears another NextEra hurdle"

"THE COMPANY seeking to build a Massachusetts-financed transmission line carrying hydro-electricity from Quebec to Maine cleared another hurdle on its comeback trail when federal regulators dismissed objections raised by the nuclear power plant Seabrook Station.

In a 52-page ruling, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission ruled on Wednesday that Seabrook must upgrade a circuit breaker at the nuclear power plant to accommodate hydro-electricity expected to come into the region from Canada.

FERC also ruled that Seabook’s owner, NextEra, can only charge Avangrid, the company building the power line, for the cost of replacing the circuit breaker and not for “opportunity costs” of $560,000 a day or legal fees.

Avangrid and NextEra are big competitors in the New England energy market and have been battling each other for years on a variety of fronts."

Continue reading the article online ->

https://commonwealthmagazine.org/energy/mass-financed-power-line-from-quebec-clears-another-nextera-hurdle/

 

This has been a thread in our ongoing series Making Sense of Climate ->

https://www.franklinmatters.org/2022/02/making-sense-of-climate-collection.html

Seabrook Station

"It is not the Commission’s role to choose one resource type over another"

In a classic 'bury the headline' move in front of a long weekend, the Chairman of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) allowed ISO-New England to further delay moves to reduce dependence upon fossil fuels. The news was released at "10:17 PM · May 27, 2022·via Twitter Web App".

"Tonight, @FERC  voted to permanently end the use of the #MOPR as a tool to stymie state policies in @ISONewEngland .  

While I would have preferred this happen immediately, I voted to approve the filing with the 2 year transition.  

Full statement here:"

https://www.ferc.gov/news-events/news/chairman-glick-concurrence-regarding-iso-new-england-inc-tariff-revisions 

Shared from Twitter -> https://twitter.com/RichGlickFERC/status/1530372578929529185 

CommonWealth Magazine also provides coverage of this decision

https://commonwealthmagazine.org/energy/ferc-grants-delay-on-n-e-energy-market-reform/

This has been a recurring topic on our "Making Sense of Climate" series. You can find all the episodes (currently 10) here https://www.franklinmatters.org/2022/05/in-this-making-sense-of-climate-episode.html

https://www.ferc.gov/