Press Releases

Permit clears the way for construction to begin 

ORANGE, Conn. — Nov. 4, 2020 — AVANGRID, Inc. (NYSE: AGR), a leading sustainable energy company, announced today that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has granted approval to the New England Clean Energy Connect (NECEC) Clean Energy Corridor. The NECEC is a renewable energy project being built by AVANGRID to bring hydropower from Quebec to Maine and other parts of New England. 

“The Army Corps permit is a significant milestone because it clears the way for construction to begin in the coming weeks,” said AVANGRID President, Robert Kump. “We are excited to start construction on this critical renewable energy project so we can begin to deliver the numerous benefits of NECEC including new local jobs, significant reduction in greenhouse gas emissions, millions of dollars in economic investment and incentives for Maine, and lower energy prices for all of New England. The NECEC is good for Mainers, good for our economy and good for our environment.” 

“The NECEC is projected to inject more than $570 million into Maine’s economy and this project will ensure steady work for Mainers in a time of great economic uncertainty,” continued Kump. 
“We have already announced more than $300 million worth of contracts that provide much needed jobs and investment in the state and job fairs will be held across Maine this Fall to fill many of the 1600 positions that will be created by this project.”

Following more than three years of extremely rigorous and thorough review and approvals for the project which examined environmental, economic and social impacts, the Army Corps permit is the latest in a series of permits granted by independent regulatory bodies at the state and federal level.  All of the regulatory reviews at the state and federal have concluded that the Clean Energy Corridor is environmentally and economically beneficial and good for Maine and New England.  The project previously received permits from the Maine Public Utilities Commission, the Maine Land Use Planning Commission, and the Maine Department of Environmental Protection.  In addition to municipal level permitting, the remaining required permit for the project is the Presidential Permit from the US Department of Energy, which is required to construct the cross-border transmission component of the line to Quebec.  

ABOUT THE NECEC PROJECT
The New England Clean Energy Connect (NECEC) is a $950 million investment that will deliver 1,200 megawatts of renewable hydropower to the New England energy grid in Lewiston, Maine. All of the costs will be paid for by Massachusetts electric customers. Once built, the NECEC will be New England’s largest source of renewable energy, representing a fundamental shift away from fossil fuels while simultaneously lowering energy costs in Maine and New England. 

The 145-mile transmission line will be built on land owned or controlled by Central Maine Power.  The 53 miles of new corridor on working forest land will use a new clearing technique of tapered vegetation; the remaining two-thirds of the project follows existing power lines created for the state’s hydroelectric industry almost a century ago. 

The project will create more than 1,600 good-paying jobs during the two-and-a-half-year construction period and provide $200 million in upgrades to Maine’s energy grid, making Maine’s electricity service more reliable.  The NECEC will allow more producers of renewable energy in Maine to get their energy on the grid, and because the corridor project will use clean hydropower, it will reduce the use of fossil fuels, cutting three million metric tons of harmful emissions each year. 

For more information about the New England Clean Energy Connect, please visit our website at https://www.necleanenergyconnect.org/

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