More Northern Pass Answers are Needed

I will begin by saying that I have not formulated an opinion on the Northern Pass project. Although following the stories from a distance, I am very concerned with the direction of the discussion. There has been a lot of passion developed debating the loss of trees, tower heights, view sheds, and property rights.

We will need leadership from our State leaders to help make the best decision for the state.  I am not speaking about a regulatory role. To clarify the issues, we need a true assessment of the energy needs of our state, identification of contingencies for risks to our energy reliability, and the establishment of long-term goals for our energy future.

My first concern is the premise that New Hampshire currently has all of the energy that we need. The North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) is responsible for ensuring the reliability of the North American bulk power system. The Northeast Power Coordination Council, Inc. (NPCC) is a regional entity operating under a delegation agreement with NERC to promote and improve the reliability in the region including all of the New England states, New York, Ontario, Quebec, and the Maritime providences. ISO-NE is a regional transmission organization serving New England to meet the electricity demands of the region’s people and economy.

I would strongly urge each reader to review the NPCC Overview, Summer 2011 at

http://www.npcc.org/documents/aboutus/General.aspx and the 2010 long-term reliability assessment, specifically the NPCC section pages 168 to 256 at http://www.nerc.com/files/2010%20LTRA.pdf 

My expertise is not in energy transmission, but I would like to have an independent professional suitably qualified in the energy market clarify the reliability of our current network as part of this discussion. One of the key assumptions of the NERC Reliability report for NPCC is that “With the economic downturn still being observed in the near-term load projections, together with the continued expansion of energy efficiency programs, the projected growth rates over the ten-year study period are reduced or little changed from those seen in 2009.”

I have previously included a news story from the Concord Monitor that describes an agreement from Green Mountain Power (GMP) and the Seabrook Nuclear Plant. GMP is a major energy supplier in Vermont. Within the NERC report is a comment that states “ISO-NE has observed actions taken in the state of Vermont with respect to the relicensing efforts for Vermont Yankee. Vermont Yankee has not formally notified ISO-NE of its potential retirement, ISO-NE is adding the retirement of Vermont Yankee to its assumptions when updating assessments of this area.” I would like to better understand how the viability or retirement of Vermont Yankee will affect New Hampshire and how traffic through the distribution system if demand in Vermont increases effects the overall system.

I have also previously included a news story from the Concord Monitor that describes a potential issue with the storage of spent fuel rods at the regional nuclear plants. These statements should not be taken as an attack on nuclear energy. Everything that I have read is that Seabrook is a major employer and a well run organization, but I think we need to assess the ability of our existing system before deciding whether alternatives are needed.

I would like a clarification of what impact the Northern Pass project would have on our energy prices. Reviewing the site for the US Energy Information Administration it appears that New Hampshire ranks 3^rd in the highest average energy costs in the country trailing only New York and Hawaii. See http://www.eia.gov/cneaf/electricity/esr/figure7_4.html  High energy costs effect the competitiveness of our businesses.

It is also my understanding that some of the renewable energy projects proposed for northern New Hampshire had been impacted by a lack of transmission capacity. I would like a clear understanding of what additional capacity would be available in the proposed lines and what the process would be for other energy providers to secure capacity within the transmission lines.

Let’s open up the discussion for our statewide energy policy to determine what is needed to maintain the reliability and capacity, what contingencies need to be accommodated, clarification that our existing power plants are appropriate, and have an open debate on what our energy diversity and make up should be in the future.