Owners of energy companies proposing a major transmission line project in Vermont and New Hampshire have announced plans to give $20 million to the Northeastern Vermont Development Association to support economic growth in the region.
The proposed project, called the Twin States Clean Energy Link, would run a 1,200 megawatt line from Canadian hydropower to New England through mostly buried transmission lines along existing roadways on the eastern edge of the state. It would pass through Canaan, Lemington, Bloomfield, Brunswick, Maidstone, Guildhall and Lunenburg before crossing into New Hampshire.
The Twin States proposal comes from National Grid, a utility company that serves New York, Massachusetts and Rhode Island, and Citizens Energy Corporation, a nonprofit energy company based in Massachusetts. The energy would come from Hydro-Quebec, a public utility in Canada that sources much of its electricity from hydroelectric facilities.
According to a press release from National Grid, the proposed economic benefits package would total $20 million over 30 years. The Northeastern Vermont Development Association would distribute the money with the goal of supporting economic and community development.
Communities would be able to access the funds through the association’s revolving loan fund and local economic and community development grants.
According to the project’s website, the two companies will be “assembling community benefits programs totaling hundreds of millions of dollars” for municipalities in both Vermont and New Hampshire along the project route. So far, the $20 million going to the Northeastern Vermont Development Association is the only funding to have been announced publicly.
Neither National Grid nor the Northeastern Vermont Development Association immediately responded to requests for comment.
“NVDA is pleased to support and welcome the opportunities provided in the Northeast Kingdom as a result of the Twin States Clean Energy Link,” Dave Snedeker, executive director of the Northeastern Vermont Development Association, said in National Grid’s press release. “National Grid has proactively engaged with NVDA and the local communities to build a project that respects the values of Vermonters while offering an economic boost to a Vermont region in need. It’s a win-win-win for the state, the NEK and the climate.”
Construction of the transmission line is expected to begin in 2027 and be ready for use in 2030, according to National Grid. The goal of the project is to bolster the New England electric grid’s capacity and reliability, and to decrease electric utility costs to customers in the region, which have been some of the highest in the country over the past year.
The Biden administration recently announced federal funding for the project — a total of $1.3 billion spread across three transmission line proposals, including Twin States.
