Iberdrola said it has commissioned the New England Clean Energy Connect (NECEC) transmission network through its U.S. subsidiary Avangrid, marking the completion of a long-delayed cross-border power link designed to deliver hydroelectricity from Canada into the northeastern United States.
The 233-kilometre high-voltage transmission line is now carrying electricity from Quebec with a capacity of up to 1,200 megawatts, equivalent to nearly 10% of Massachusetts’ total electricity consumption, the Spanish utility said.
Iberdrola said development of the project began in 2018 and that construction was completed after securing all required federal and state permits. The $1.65 billion project operates under regulated 40-year contracts with Massachusetts electricity distributors and Hydro-Québec.
The NECEC system incorporates high-voltage direct current (HVDC) converter technology and includes two 300-megavolt-ampere reactive (MVAR) static synchronous compensators (STATCOMs) installed at the Buxton substation in Maine to support grid stability.
Iberdrola added that the project is expected to deliver hundreds of millions of dollars in funding for local community initiatives and programmes. The company also said it has secured around 20,200 hectares of land to protect regional ecosystems as part of its environmental mitigation measures.
The commissioning of NECEC strengthens cross-border power links between Canada and the United States and is intended to support regional decarbonisation efforts by increasing access to large-scale renewable electricity, Iberdrola said.
