After months of heated bidding against NextEra Energy Resources, Eversource Energy, formerly Northeast Utilities, has won the right to build one of the largest electric infrastructure projects in New England history.
Citing lower costs, ISO New England, the regional grid operator, selected Eversource—partnered with National Grid—to build the ‘Greater Boston and Southern New Hampshire Reliability Project.’
The plan presented by Eversource and National Grid calls for new overhead transmission lines in existing rights of way and new underground lines in Massachusetts. Eversource stands to earn a guaranteed 10% return on its investment from electric consumers' bills.
Competitor NextEra, owner of the Seabrook nuclear power plant, argued Eversource’s cost projections were not to be trusted. But ISO said an independent study found the Eversource plan would have cost $260 million less than the NextEra plan. That plan called for running cable along the ocean floor from Seabrook to Everett, Mass.
