Eversource 2010 Annual Report Download - page 7

hydro-electric, power from Canada to New England’s
load centers. We made significant progress finalizing
and completing a series of agreements for the project, in
partnership with NSTAR and Hydro-Québec, and made
key regulatory filings with the U.S. Department of Energy
and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC).
On February 11, 2011, FERC approved the Transmission
Service Agreement as uniquely beneficial to our region.
Community outreach for the project began following the
public announcement of the converter terminal location
in Franklin, New Hampshire. Although it is contingent on
siting approvals, construction of the line should begin in
2013. By 2015, we expect it to begin delivering power
into New England.
In another development that speaks to our overall
leadership, we embarked on the construction of large-
scale solar generation in Massachusetts. In October
2010, WMECo completed its first facility in Pittsfield,
Massachusetts, where it installed 1.8 megawatts of solar
generation. Completed in just six months, the project
shines as the region’s largest solar installation to date.
WMECo recently announced selection of the second
site for development of a 4.2 megawatt facility on a
62-acre capped landfill in Springfield, Massachusetts.
Construction of the Springfield facility will complete the
initial 6-megawatt authorization WMECo received from
the Massachusetts Department of Public Utilities in 2009.
In New Hampshire, construction on the Clean Air Project
at PSNH’s Merrimack Generating Station is 82 percent
complete and continues to be ahead of schedule and
under budget. When the project is completed in 2012,
the power plant will be one of the nation’s cleanest coal-
burning energy facilities. This project will use wet-flue
gas desulfurization technology. It will dramatically reduce
mercury and sulfur dioxide emissions from Merrimack’s
two units, and Merrimack will continue to provide the
region with competitively priced energy and needed
fuel diversity.
In 2010, we continued to examine the emerging industry
of plug-in electric vehicles as an opportunity to provide
our customers with a clean, lower-cost fuel alternative
and to help spur the region’s economy. Ongoing research
projects include the installation and testing of electric
vehicle charging equipment at NU facilities in Hartford
and Berlin, Connecticut. In addition, CL&P and WMECo
are partnering with interested municipalities and business
customers to install about two dozen charging stations
in Connecticut and western Massachusetts. These New
England states will be among the first in the nation to
sell the dual-fuel Chevy Volt and the all-electric Nissan
Leaf, as a result of our early, proactive collaboration with
automakers and state and local policy leaders.
Innovative customer solutions
Working with our customers to help them conserve
energy and manage its use demonstrates another
powerful way that NU leads the effort to ensure a clean
energy future. In fact, our foresight in energy efficiency
has enabled us to lead this worthwhile effort both
regionally and nationally for more than three decades.
enable us to strengthen the reliability of our system and
increase our ability to add renewable energy to our portfolio
of energy resources
investments in the region’s infrastructure
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