Hydro-Qubec looks to northeastern U.S.

Plenty of raw electricity sloshes around in Quebec'srivers and reservoirs, promising relief for U.S. northeasterners, whopay the nation's highest power costs. But getting those electrons tosmartphones and airconditionersinBoston,Hartford and New York Cityis another matter entirely.

In review or under construction are five large-scale hydropowerproposals that could pump thousands of megawatts into the Northeastand ease prices as supply increases. But critics worry thattransmission lines will despoil the natural beauty of places like NewHampshire's White Mountains, and that over reliance on it will stymieeffortstotrimconsumption and develop renewable energy sourcescloser to home.

"Our view is that there is a role for Canadian hydropower in the NewEngland power grid,'' said Tom Irwin, vice-president and director ofConservation Law Foundation-New Hampshire, an environmental advocate.

"It's had a role, we expect it will continue to play a role and weexpect that role will increase. But we think that to theextent itincreases, that it be done in a thoughtful way and in a way thatdoesn't undermine the development ofrenewable resources at the locallevel.''

Power costly for New Englanders

The Energy Information Administration in June forecast New Englanderswould pay a tops-in-the-nation 20.2 cents per kilowatt-hour in thethird quarter of this year, almost 7 cents higher than the nationalaverage. New York and NewJersey are expected to pay 16.5 cents perkilowatt-hour.

The six New England governors say reining in the costs is a highpriority and in April announced they would worktogether on solutions.

Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker in July sought to require utilitiesto work with the state to pursue long-term contracts to bringhydropower into the state as a way to reduce greenhouse gas emissionsand help ratepayers.

In 2014, 1.6 per cent of the electricity purchased in the U.S. camefrom Canada, 60 per cent of it pouring into NewEngland and New York,according to the EIA. In those markets, Canadian imports made up 12 to16 per cent of the retail electricity sales, enough to significantlymove the needle on the region's power costs. Five large-scale hydroproposals currently in review or under construction could pumpthousands more megawatts into the Northeast, putting more downwardpressure on prices as supply increases.

So many factors go into a consumer's bill including supply, demand,usage and the prices of other fuels at any moment in time that it'shard to pinpoint the effect more Canadian hydropower will have on anindividual.

Untapped hydropower in Canada

Canada is the world's third-largest generator of hydropower, behindChina and Brazil, and still has plenty of untappedcapacity. Canadiangenerators added 5,000 megawatts of hydropower over the past 10 yearsenough to power 5 million homes and expect to match that in thecoming decade, said Jacob Irving, president of the Canadian HydropowerAssociation. The country could potentially double its existingcapacity, he said.

"For the U.S. and its desire to have a cleaner and more reliableelectricity system, when they look north, I think theycan do so withconfidence,'' he said.

Developing that electricity system locally has proven a challenge.It's hard enough to get buy-in to string power lines or pipelinesthrough the densely populated, educated and politically savvyNortheast. Building a dam or putting up a windfarm stirs even deeperantipathy.

Hydro-Qubec is the biggest exporter

In New England, that Canadian hydropower essentially comes from oneprovider: Hydro-Qubec. An EIA report shows that in 2014, it exportedmore than 28 per cent of the Canadian power that made it to the U.S.,nearly double the next largest exporter, the Manitoba Hydro-ElectricBoard.

Hydro-Qubec's 62 generation facilities all but one are hydro plantscan produce 36,500 megawatts, enough to power 36.5 million homes. Bycomparison, the operator of New England's power grid, ISO-New England,puts total generating capacity in the six states at 31,000 megawatts.

Hydro-Qubec has been a player in the U.S. market for about fourdecades, and spokesman Gary Sutherland saidsending more power southis a strategic goal.

Hydro-Qubec is working with Eversource Energy, based in Hartford,Connecticut, on the $1.4 billion Northern Passplan to send 1,200megawatts of electricity on mostly overhead power lines through NewHampshire to southern New England markets including Boston, Hartfordand Providence, Rhode Island. It's one of a handful of currentproposals to expand Canadian hydropower in the region:

They include:

• New England Clean Power, 1,000 megawatts, under Lake Champlain andacross Vermont.
• Champlain Hudson Power Express, 1,000 megawatts, 330 miles mostlyunder Lake Champlain and New York's Hudson River to New York City.
• Maine Green Line, a 300-mile cable underground and under the oceanto the Boston area.
• Northeast Energy Link, a 230-mile underground line from Orrington,Maine, to Tewksbury, Massachusetts.

Building Northern Pass alone could save the region $250 million to$300 million a year in wholesale energy costs each year, Eversourcespokeswoman Lauren Collins said.

Critics have assailed the project for what they say will beirreparable damage to New Hampshire's scenic beauty, the environmentand property values along the route, compared with other proposalsthat largely call for buried lines.

"Other transmission developers are not just suggesting it, but areactively doing it, in ways that don't have the samenegative impactsthat Northern Pass would,'' said Jack Savage, a spokesman for theSociety for the Protection of new Hampshire Forests.

Burying the lines in a rugged environment like New Hampshire'smountains would raise the cost to $3 billion or $4 billion from $1.4billion, an increase that would be passed on to ratepayers, BillQuinlan, Eversource's president of NewHampshire electric operations,said last year.

After the Energy Department last week released a draft environmentalimpact statement on Northern Pass, Eversource said it was reviewingalternate routes.

Aside from the question of routes, critics worry that a vast supply ofpower from Canada will lull states into a falsesense of security andthat they'll let efficiency efforts lapse or shirk requirements tofind more renewable sourcescloser to home.

Irwin, of the Conservation Law Foundation, doesn't want the Canadianhydropower to count toward those renewablegoals or chip away atefforts to use less power.

"The more progress we can make on energy efficiency, the less peoplewill pay,'' he said.

But Irving, of the Canadian Hydropower Association, rejects the ideathat more Canadian hydro will thwart progress on renewables in theU.S. Instead, he said, hydropower can be started and stopped quickly,making it a better partner for renewables like solar and wind, whichrequire a reliable backup. That, he said, could encourage morerenewable projects in the states, not fewer.

Even advocates of hydropower confess it's not "carbon-free'' becausebuilding the reservoirs to power theturbinescreates a short-termspike in greenhouse gases when trees are removed. But over the longterm, hydropower produces vastly less carbon than fossil fuels.