Northern Vermont electricity project approved


Burlington Free Press, July 24, 2003

By David Gram
The Associated Press

MONTPELIER -- The Public Service Board has approved a relatively small electric transmission system upgrade in northern Vermont in a ruling that could be a harbinger for a much bigger project.

The certificate of public good issued by the utility-regulating board late last week will allow the Vermont Electric Power Co. to close a loop that will connect customers from Littleton , N.H. , in the east to St. Albans in the west.

It is expected to improve reliability of power systems serving areas extending from St. Johnsbury to Newport , and across the state's northern border to Highgate and St. Albans , said VELCO engineer and manager Thomas Dunn.

VELCO handles bulk transmission of power to Vermont 's investor-owned utilities and municipal and cooperative power systems, and interconnects with the larger New England regional power grid.

The project is expected to cost about $25 million, Dunn said. He added that the majority of those costs will be absorbed by utility ratepayers elsewhere in New England , since the project has been deemed as one that will make the whole region's transmission system more robust.

The ruling on the "northern loop project" was an important win for VELCO as it gears up for what are likely to be contentious board hearings on its proposal for a much larger "northwest reliability project."

That project, on which board hearings began last week, involves new and larger power lines extending from West Rutland to Burlington and from Williamstown to Barre. One worry voiced by opponents concerns the electromagnetic fields given off by power lines.

In the northern loop case, the board said "a large degree of uncertainty" about the health effects of electromagnetic fields was not enough to offset the benefits of the project.

"Although the health impacts of EMF are uncertain, the benefits of increased reliability for all Vermonters, and in particular, the residents who will be (affected) by the project, are clear," the board wrote.

Three "radial lines" -- essentially one-way streets for electric transmission -- serve northern Vermont , Dunn said. "If there's a problem anywhere on the line, all the customers from there down are out," Dunn said.

The loop will enable power dispatchers to reroute electricity flows when an outage blocks shipment of power from its original direction, he said.

The only new power line needed to connect the problem was about six miles of 115 kilovolt transmission-grade line on about a 6-mile route from Irasburg to Newport , to be installed on a route that a smaller power line used for local distribution already occupies, Dunn said.