Just like interconnections to neighboring states, electrical power interties to Canada continue to serve the region.
As the U.S. government imposed some tariffs on Canada in early March, reports circulated that Hydro-Québec, the powerful Canadian utility, had stopped exporting electricity to New England.
But correlation can be misinterpreted as causation. Conclusions can be misguided. And perception can misconstrue reality.
“It’s important to note that we are still exporting energy towards New England in order to meet certain contract obligations,” Hydro-Québec Senior Communications Advisor Lynn St-Laurent says in an email to Site Selection. “Generally speaking, however, our current stance in the market is driven by warmer temperatures and lower prices, as well as the proactive management of our energy reserves. It is not political.”
ISO New England, the independent, not-for-profit corporation responsible for the reliable operation of New England’s electric power generation and transmission system, confirms as much and offers further details.
“Import levels from Canada have fluctuated in recent days, but this is not unexpected this time of year, when consumer demand and prices are lower,” writes ISO New England Senior Communications Specialist Mary Cate Colapietro. In fact, recent power flows have sometimes been in the opposite direction.
“Though once rare, it has become more common in the past year or so for New England to export electricity to Québec as they deal with drought conditions and make strategic decisions regarding their water supply,” Colapietro says. “To provide some historical context, in 2024, Canadian imports met about 5% of New England demand, down from roughly 11% in 2023. This decline was largely attributed to drought conditions in Canada.”
Indeed, the ISO’s fall 2024 markets report said energy supply from hydro resources overall decreased by approximately 40% relative to the prior fall season as a result of extended drought conditions in the region. Meanwhile, a planned nuclear generator outage in New Brunswick also meant lower electricity imports from Canada last fall, with New England actually exporting an average of 249 megawatts (MW) per hour to New Brunswick.
Most important for industrial end users today: System reliability has not been affected. “The system has been reliable throughout March as well as April,” Colapietro states. “We had surpluses in line with this time of year, and the system remained in normal operating conditions throughout the month.”
This geographical transmission system map from ISO New England shows the transmission lines, facilities and generators that are currently interconnected to the system and planned.
Map courtesy of ISO New England
The Ties That Bind
New England has 13 total interconnections to neighboring power systems either across state lines or across the U.S.-Canada border. But the power of Canada’s influence is always there. Case in point: The Cross Sound Cable between Connecticut and Long Island was developed more than 20 years ago by none other than TransÉnergie U.S., a subsidiary of Hydro-Québec. Hydro-Québec has been selling electricity into New England since the 1980s.
Further reassurance for power users today comes in the form of new interties in development. Hydro-Québec’s Lynn St-Laurent confirms the utility “is pursuing construction of the new interties which will deliver energy under the Massachusetts and New York contracts.” The New England Clean Energy Connect that runs through Maine and will connect to the New England grid through Lewiston, Maine, will serve the contract with Massachusetts and is expected to be in service by December 2025. The Champlain Hudson Power Express, which will serve the New York contract, is expected to be in service by May 2026.
The imported power will be welcome. According to an outlook report from ISO New England, “Over the next 15 years, the region needs to add almost twice as much new generation as it added in the last 25 years,” and offshore wind can only do so much. Moreover, an estimated $620 million to $1 billion in transmission reliability investment will be needed each year through 2050 to support the clean energy transition, the organization says.
“By the early 2030s,” says the report, “the annual energy needed to heat buildings and charge electric vehicles is expected to grow to more than 20 times the forecast for 2024. The growth over the next decade is just the beginning.”
