Another Power Line Proposed

Five years after Northern Pass was rejected by the state, another proposal is on the books to bring Quebec hydropower through New Hampshire, but this time along a different route, passing through Dunbarton instead of Concord, with different owners and a different financial setup.

The 211-mile proposal, about 135 miles of which is in New Hampshire, was put together by National Grid and Citizens Energy Corporation.

Like Northern Pass it would carry more than 1,000 megawatts of electricity into New England from the massive hydropower dams owned by HydroQuebec.

But it avoids the most contentious parts of the earlier Eversource proposal by skirting the White Mountain National Forest, burying all new lines, and using National Grid’s existing rights of way in New Hampshire without needing to build new towers.

Construction couldn’t start until 2026 at the earliest, since a number of permits are needed.