HOULTON, Maine — A partnership between power companies in two nations is poised to forge a low-priced, reliable and secure transmission path for energy, officials from the collaborators said late last week.
Northern Maine’s Houlton Water Co. and New Brunswick Power in Fredericton announced on Oct. 29 that they would be partnering to construct a new secure transmission path for energy through a new international interconnect joining Woodstock, New Brunswick, and Houlton, Maine.
The companies have signed an agreement to build a 15.5-mile, 138 kilovolt transmission line and substation. Construction will begin once regulatory approvals have been received. The project will be 100 percent funded by the water company and final costs will be determined when environmental, engineering and design work is complete.
“This project has been something that has been ongoing since last March,” John Clark, Houlton Water Co. general manager, said late last week. “We do not yet know a price tag because we still have to do the engineering study, and that is being conducted by NB Power. But we will know that in a couple of weeks.”
Houlton Water Co. is a municipally owned utility providing electricity, water and wastewater services to Houlton and portions of surrounding towns. It serves approximately 5,200 electric, 1,700 water and 1,800 wastewater customers, according to its website. The company employs 22 people.
Reliability of power in Aroostook County and its lack of connection to the regional power grid in Maine has been a concern for some time.
All energy coming in or out of Aroostook County does so through its connection to the New Brunswick power grid. The Aroostook grid is connected to the rest of Maine and New England only indirectly through a 345-kilovolt transmission line that runs from New Brunswick into Maine through Orient and Haynesville in southern Aroostook County, and another line that runs from New Brunswick into the Woodland, Maine, area.
If the project is approved, New Brunswick Power will construct the new line and substation from the Woodstock terminal to the U.S.-Canada border near the Houlton border crossing. The new infrastructure will become transmission assets of New Brunswick Power and will join the four international connections already in place in Eastern and Northern Maine.
Clark said that the proposal is separate from one filed by Emera Maine last month with the Maine Public Utilities Commission. They are seeking a request for construction approval.
Emera Maine is looking to increase the availability of reliable power in northern Maine with the proposed construction of a new substation in Monticello and 4.2 miles of transmission lines connecting it to New Brunswick Power’s Woodstock substation.
The total project cost, including upgrades to equipment on both sides of the border, is estimated at between $33 million and $35 million, according to their request filed earlier this month with the MPUC.
Clark said that the project is being done in response to Emera’s proposal, as the total cost of that project would “at least double” transmission costs for Houlton Water Co. customers. He said that the partners’ plan would “leave costs to our customers where they are today.”
Officials also believe they have found an economical energy transmission path for their customers through their partnership with New Brunswick Power, which would allow them to dissolve ties with Emera and connect permanently with the Canadian company if the proposal is approved.
For now, Clark said that the next step is to calculate the cost estimate, obtain regulatory approval from the PUC, and secure permits in Canada.
Houlton Water Co. will seek the necessary regulatory approvals from the Maine Public Utilities Commission, Maine Department of Environmental Protection, and the U.S. Department of Energy. New Brunswick Power will seek approval for the project from the Province of New Brunswick and the Canadian National Energy Board. New Brunswick Power and the board of Houlton Water Co. already have approved the agreement
“We are pleased that Houlton Water Co. is able to collaborate with New Brunswick Power on the new transmission tie line project between our two utilities,” Clark said. “Over the next several years, the completion of this project should result in considerable savings and value to our customers
“This agreement is just the latest example of regional partners seeing the value in New Brunswick’s low cost energy and extremely stable grid,” said Keith Cronkhite, vice president of generation and business development for New Brunswick Power. “We are proud to add this connection with our new partners at Houlton Water Company to our other four Maine/New England connections and while HWC is not required to purchase electricity from NB Power through this new line, we are happy to provide their customers with the option to take advantage of our low and stable generation costs through this direct connection.”
“Of course, HWC has ensured a continued high level of reliability for its system under this arrangement,” Clark said. “The new agreement was made possible by U.S. federal legislation permitting utilities such as ours to make advantageous grid and supply relationships to benefit our customers.”.
Founded in 1920, New Brunswick Power is a crown corporation wholly owned by the Province of New Brunswick to supply electricity to residential and business customers across the province.