A $6 billion transmission line designed to deliver Canadian hydropower to New York City shut down for a second time this month, disrupting a flagship clean-energy project meant to reduce the city’s reliance on dirty fossil fuel generators. The 1,250-megawatt Champlain Hudson Power Express (CHPE) transmission line can deliver up to 20 per cent of New York City’s electricity. It is currently offline due to a cable issue, Hydro-Québec said on Monday. Hydro-Québec developed the project with private-equity giant Blackstone Inc BX.N. “Teams working around the clock have identified a cable issue at a location on the U.S. portion of the transmission line,” Hydro-Québec said in a statement. Operation data published by New York ISO, which manages the flow of electricity for the state’s grid, indicates the shutdown will last through at least Friday. The current cable issue with CHPE, which operated during New York City’s recent heat wave, is unrelated to a shutdown that happened on July 1, Hydro-Québec said. The line commenced operation in May, capping a planning and development process that spanned more than 15 years. Energy demand is expected to surge this week with temperatures approaching 38 degrees Celsius in New York. CHPE’s outage means the city will lean on power plants that burn diesel fuel and produce nitrogen oxides, a key component of smog pollution, at rates up to 6 times greater than generators with the most advanced pollution controls, according to federal emissions data. The 546-kilometre power line stretches along the entire length of New York State, from the Canadian border to a converter station in Astoria, Queens, where energy enters the New York City grid. New ISO said its energy demand planning studies did not assume CHPE would be available for peak summer demand. “And that was one reason the grid performed reliably during the heat wave earlier this month. While reserves were extremely tight, we secured sufficient generation and other reliability resources to meet demand regardless of CHPE’s status,” New York ISO spokesperson Kevin Lanahan said. Reporting by Tim McLaughlin; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama and David Gregorio
