Union opposes eastern NY transmission route to pipe Montreal power to NYC

Dec 24 - McClatchy-Tribune Regional News - Nancy Madsen Watertown Daily Times, N.Y.

A proposal from a Canadian company to build a transmission line from Quebec to New York City is opposed by union officials who believe it would hurt job prospects in upstate New York and keep transmission system improvements on the back burner.

"We are opposed to importing power from Canada," said Philip G. Wilcox, business representative for the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 97, Orchard Park. "We want the commitment to invest in New York sources."

The union represents 14,000 electrical generation facility workers, and other IBEW unions in the state represent those who run and maintain transmission lines.

Mr. Wilcox said the union began voicing opposition to the project in the fall, nearly two years after it became public, because generation facilities where its members work are at risk due to the state grid system's congestion. Facilities such as AES Somerset in Niagara County are losing money because its power can't reach the higher-priced market in New York City.

And the delivery of 1,000 megawatts through two high-voltage, direct-current lines under Lake Champlain and the Hudson River would lower prices in the city, making it harder to finance projects to improve and upgrade other congested lines, he said.

Transmission Developers Inc., Toronto, designed the Champlain Hudson Power Express, a 330-mile link between hydroelectric facilities in Montreal. The $2 billion project is funded entirely by private investors, led by the Blackstone Group, New York City.

London Economics, London, said the project would save ratepayers in New York City $500 million to $800 million.

"It makes the state more efficient and productive," Transmission Developers President and CEO Donald Jessome said. "It has its own spinoff benefits."

The cable's construction would take four years and employ 200 people each year.

But if state investor-owned utilities, the New York Power Authority, the Public Service Commission and the New York Independent System Operator followed through on $4 billion in potential transmission upgrades around the state, that could employ 17,100 jobs directly and up to 52,000 directly and indirectly, said a May 2011 report by the Working Group for Investment in Reliable and Economic Electrical Systems and The Brattle Group.

And those grid improvements would allow existing facilities to ramp back up and new facilities, including new wind power projects, to sell on the wholesale market.

"Moreover, deficiencies in the State's electrical grid played a role in the decision not to site an additional nuclear power facility in Oswego County," wrote state Sen. Patricia A. Ritchie, R-Heuvelton, in a Nov. 21 letter to the governor's office. She wrote that both east-west connections and north-south lines need upgrades. "The New York Power Authority (NYPA) is well positioned to make strategic investments along these lines to relieve current pressures in the marketplace. I have spoken directly with NYPA officials in regards to my support of such investments."

Mrs. Ritchie, who is a member of the Energy and Telecommunications Committee, supports the cost of the upgrades being borne by downstate electricity users, who are paying a premium for electricity because of tight supply anyway.

New York Independent System Operator's State Transmission Assessment and Reliability Study found which improvements would be economically beneficial. They include transmission lines that run from the New York Power Authority's St. Lawrence-Franklin D. Roosevelt Power project south to Marcy. The two 230-kilovolt lines that are more than 50 years old are known as the Moses-Adirondack lines. They run parallel to each other and to a 765-kilovolt line.

"The New York Power Authority is evaluating all options related to the replacement of its Moses-Adirondack lines due to the asset age which is consistent with the findings published in the STARS report," spokeswoman Connie M. Cullen said in an email. "NYPA is continually assessing its statewide transmission system to ensure the continued reliability of its system for decades to come. NYPA recognizes the importance of its transmission system for the delivery of economical electric supplies to businesses and residences, and to also incorporate more electricity from renewable sources into the state's power grid."

A second report through NYISO, the Congestion Assessment and Resource Integration Study, will allow developers to propose specific projects to address congestion.

TDI's CEO said the need for power in the city won't be overcome with just the Champlain Hudson project.

"It allows delivery of 1,000 megawatts in a 40,000 megawatt system," Mr. Jessome said. "There is lots of room for many projects to be built in the New York system and ours is just one of many solutions that are going to be required over a number of years for the existing needs and future needs of New York state."

The underwater route was chosen to avoid as much environmental and aesthetic harm as possible. Other similar projects include the Cross Sound Cable from Long Island to Connecticut and the Neptune Cable from New Jersey to Long Island. The project has support letters, filed in the state Public Service Commission process, from those in New York City, the League of Conservation Voters and 20 members of Congress.

A few environmental groups have raised objections to the project. Those groups, including the Adirondack Council, are involved in private negotiations on an undisclosed issue with the developer, PSC and other state and local agencies. The issue may be resolved by Jan. 10 and if private stakes are successful, the project will avoid a longer review.

In a letter Thursday, IBEW raised its objections to the PSC.

"The CHP project will be deleterious of New York State energy jobs, as well as the ability to finance investment into our transmission system, negatively impacting system reliability, energy independence, renewable energy development, and further threatening already struggling NYS-based power generators, especially in upstate New York," Local 97 President, Business Manager and Financial Secretary Theodore J. Skerpon wrote.

But Mr. Jessome said the project is an environmentally friendly approach to connecting to a market that is one of the most highly congested in North America and a difficult interconnection.

"That has been the real emphasis of the project -- to ensure the benefits are there for the state of New York," he said.

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Source: http://c.moreover.com/click/here.pl?r5666106755

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