Potential Competitors: N.E. Hydropower Project No Longer Viable

Debate is heating up over a proposed 180-mile transmission line that would bring Canadian hydropower to New England.

As the Concord Monitor reports:

A rival energy group to Northern Pass said [Tuesday] that its new study shows the hydropower project is no longer economically viable because natural gas is increasingly becoming a cheaper alternative.

The study "predicts a 2 to 3 percent drop in New England power prices, which would make it hard for Northern Pass investors to see a profit," according to the Manchester Union Leader.

"We simply don’t see the revenues substantially outweighing the costs there," Dan Dolan, president of the New England Power Generators Association (NEGPA), told WBUR's Curt Nickisch for our Newscast unit.

NEGPA, which commissioned the analysis, "represents companies that generate nearly 27,000 megawatts of electricity in New England, about 85 percent of the region's power output," the Union Leader reports.

"When the competition is trying to keep you out of the marketplace, you must be doing something right," Northern Pass spokesman Martin Murray told WBUR's Curt in response to the study.

Murray told Curt that bringing renewable hydropower to New England would lower utility bills.

Northern Pass is a partnership between Hydro-Quebec, Northeast Utilities and its subsidiary, Public Service of New Hampshire.