The Healey-Driscoll Administration and New England states, Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, and New York have signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to establish a framework for coordinating their activities to improve interregional transmission planning and development.
Massachusetts had requested the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to arrange and lead a multi-state group, the Northeast States Collaborative on Interregional Transmission, in an effort to explore mutually beneficial opportunities to increase the flow of electricity between three different planning regions in the Northeast and assess offshore wind infrastructure needs and solutions. The multi-state group has been working with DOE to develop the structure and scope of activities for the collaborative.
The collaborative offers an agreement to work together on interregional transmission infrastructure and establishes mechanisms for sharing information. Enhancing transmission ties between regions will help lower prices for consumers through increased access to lower-cost energy and strengthens reliability during periods of extreme weather and system stress.
The collaborative plans to produce a strategic action plan for promoting the development of interregional transmission projects for offshore wind. It will include identification of barriers to such projects and actionable options for addressing them.
The collaborative aims to provide opportunities for external engagement as part of the development of a plan. The states also intend to coordinate on technical standards for offshore wind transmission equipment to ensure future flexibility and interoperability as projects are introduced in different locations and at different times, preserving the ability to interconnect regions as the industry matures.
The MOU was signed by Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island, and Vermont.
The New England states and New York had filed a joint application for federal funding through DOE’s Grid Innovation Program (GIP) to develop the Clean Resilience Link. The link is a transmission system upgrade to enable operation of a New York-New England transmission line at 345 kV, increasing transfer capacity between the two regions by up to 1,000 MW. The project developers supporting the application were National Grid and Reactive Technologies.
The GIP, administered through DOE’s $10.5 billion Grid Resilience and Innovation Partnerships (GRIP) Program, funds projects improving grid reliability and resilience through advanced technologies and innovative partnerships and approaches. The maximum award per project is $250 million, or $1 billion for a project with significant transmission investment, like the interregional Clean Resilience Link.
