The Twin States project is unique because it will provide benefits to the economy and environment across New England. The line can transport 1,200 MW of clean, dispatchable power between New England and Canada, which will lower carbon emissions, reduce customers’ utility bills, create jobs and revenue —while having minimal environmental or visual impacts for communities.
Twin States delivers clean energy directly to where it’s most needed to serve the greater New England grid. In short, Twin States will provide maximum benefits for the region without creating new logistical challenges.
New England faces a critical shortage of clean, reliable energy resources that will enable its states to meet their ambitious carbon emissions goals over the next several decades. Filling this need requires both local sources of renewable energy, such as solar and offshore wind, along with clean hydropower from Canada, which can serve to “balance” the region’s power load. However, moving that clean energy from Canada to the New England grid requires significant new transmission capacity.
Unlike other projects, Twin States has the ability to move power in both directions – importing hydro power from Canada to New England and exporting excess renewable power from New England to Canada. A reliable electric grid requires constant balancing between supply and demand, which can be challenging because some renewable resources, like solar and wind, aren’t always available. Twin States helps solve this challenge by importing hydropower from Canada when customers need power and exporting excess electricity from New England when it’s not needed.
By enabling the bidirectional flow of clean, dispatchable power between New England and its neighbors in Quebec, the Twin States Clean Energy Link (“Twin States”) will provide a vital source of “balancing power” to the region during times when wind and solar generation are providing too much or too little energy to meet customer needs thus securing the reliable, timely and cost-effective achievement of state policy goals. In fulfilling this critical role, Twin States will allow the region’s stakeholders to meet the promise of harnessing New England’s vast renewable energy potential to the benefit of families and workers while ensuring the energy needs of our customers are met throughout the year.
Without new lines to Quebec providing access to this critical source of balancing power, the region may remain dependent on fossil-fuel fired generation to fill this role for decades. Construction of Twin States will help to solve this issue because of its minimal impact design and utilization of existing transmission corridors and infrastructure to deliver power where it is needed.
Twin States is singularly positioned to support New England’s emerging clean energy economy. The proposed project is unique in that it will deliver this power to where it is needed and in amounts that achieve the greatest wind and solar integration possible. Other projects deliver power far from most customers and in quantities that are less supportive of the expected new sources of renewable energy that policymakers and customers need and want.
Twin States is being developed by National Grid, the unrivalled global leader in HVDC project development, construction, and operation. National Grid is a trusted partner for New England residents, businesses, organizations and policymakers seeking a path to deep decarbonization of the region’s energy grid. As the owner and operator of New England’s largest connection to Quebec, and a local utility that understands the needs of its customers, National Grid is uniquely positioned to deliver a new connection to our Canadian neighbors that will bring maximum value to homes, businesses, communities, and workers.
Most importantly, National Grid isn’t new to the region and will play a major role in New England supporting its customers’ needs long into the future.
