Can Hydropower Generate Support?
Should Massachusetts buy electricity from large Canadian hydropower facilities? Ask Christophe Courchesne of the Conservation Law Foundation, a group dedicated to environmental causes, and he says “the devil is in the details.” Ask Robert Rio of the business group Associated Industries of Massachusetts (AIM), and he uses the exact same phrase.
Gov. Deval Patrick, along with the leaders of other New England states, is working to strike a deal — or multiple deals — to channel power from Canada's rivers to Massachusetts businesses and homes. On the face of it, hydropower looks like a relatively clean, relatively affordable source of electricity. Yet both environmental and business advocates say there are pitfalls the state must avoid as it hashes out the tricky details.
Steven Clarke, the state's assistant secretary for renewable energy said Patrick, who visited Canada in September and again this month, is working to help the state meet goals set out in the Massachusetts Clean Energy and Climate Plan for 2020 based on legislation passed in 2008. The plan includes reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 25 percent below their 1990 levels by 2020 as a first step toward dropping them 80 percent by 2050.
“To get there, we're really going to have to completely change our energy system,” Clarke said.
That's simply not something that can be done in time with homegrown renewable power, Clarke said, although he said the state is also continuing to promote solar, wind and hydropower installations as part of its overall plans. The Case For Importing Hydro
Even aside from environmental questions, Clarke said there are strong arguments for imported hydropower. Right now, the state gets the vast majority of its electricity from natural gas, which means a jump in that fuel's price could be hugely disruptive. And hydropower from large facilities—unlike solar, wind or small-scale hydropower—is considered a mature technology that doesn't require government subsidies.
“We're pretty confident that the costs are competitive,” he said. “That's an important part of the governor and Secretary (of Energy and Environmental Affairs Richard K. Sullivan Jr.)'s focus.”
But what about those details in which the devil lies? The most obvious source for hydropower available to Massachusetts is Hydro-Québec, a massive facility owned by the Québec government. The state already imports some power from Hydro-Québec via a National Grid line that runs through Vermont and New Hampshire. Now, Northeast Utilities and Hydro-Québec are pushing to build a new 180-mile power line known as the Northern Pass that would carry 1,200 megawatts of electricity into New England.
In contrast, the state's Clean Energy Center estimates that all 88 hydropower facilities in Massachusetts have a total capacity of 310 megawatts, while solar and wind capacity stand at 311 and 103 megawatts, respectively. Cape Wind, the project planned between Cape Cod and Nantucket, promises a maximum capacity of 420 megawatts, but just 175 megawatts in average wind.
The state's 2020 plan specifically discusses the Northern Pass, saying it would bring enough power to serve up to 15 percent of the state's electricity demands, the equivalent of powering almost a million homes.
But the Conservation Law Foundation's Courchesne said the Northern Pass proposal, at least as it stands, is rife with problems. For one thing, basing estimates of its benefit to Massachusetts on the power line's entire capacity is misleading since the power may be divided among various states. And, he said, thorough studies regarding the project's economic and environmental impacts haven't been done.
'Cart Before The Horse'?
“Massachusetts has put a lot of chips on this project without considering with the appropriate amount of rigor and care the justifications for it from a technical and an environmental perspective, or from a cost perspective,” he said. “Massachusetts is kind of putting the cart before the horse.”
In New Hampshire, the Northern Pass proposal has stirred significant opposition partly because it relies on overhead lines running through scenic — and tourist-friendly — forests. It's still awaiting regulatory approvals.
Clarke said Massachusetts and the other New England states aren't looking exclusively at Northern Pass. He said there are other potential ways of moving electricity from Quebec, including a proposed increase in the capacity of the existing National Grid line, as well as projects in other Canadian provinces that could fill the state's power needs.
“We're open to a variety of different options,” he said.
Making It Cost Competitive
To AIM's Robert Rio, the potential devil in the details of hydroelectric power is not environmental but economic. The group, which strenuously opposed Cape Wind as a potential driver of higher electricity costs, wants to make sure imported hydroelectric power competes on a level playing field with other sources of electricity.
“What we don't want to see done is special side deals with Hydro-Québec that are going to raise our prices,” he said.
As long as that doesn't happen, Rio said, he's all in favor of hydroelectric imports as a way of reducing the state's dependence on natural gas. That's particularly important with Salem Harbor's coal-fired plant and the Vermont Yankee nuclear power facility preparing to shut down. He said Hydro-Québec, and the power lines connecting it with Massachusetts, are long-term investments that will provide more consistent power than other sources such as solar and wind energy.
“This is good baseline power that will be there every day,” he said. “The bottom line for us is we're looking for reliable, cost-effective, non-carbon-emitting power.”
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