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NYISO - NYPA interest in Hudson Transmission Partners project

By Gil Coelho, Market Manager, NEPOOL & ISO-NY, GDF SUEZ Energy Resources NA


In 2006, the New York Power Authority (NYPA) issued two RFPs – one calling for 500MWs of supply to serve state government customers in New York City (Astoria Energy II won the RFP http://www.gdfsuezna.com/press/documents/AstoriaDoublesCapacityGlobalReleasePR.pdf) and one for 500MWs of transmission into NYC.

The Hudson Transmission Partners (HTP) project was ultimately selected to build approximately a seven-mile transmission line with a total capacity of 660MWs. This line would run from Bergen County to ConEdison’s West 49th Street substation and include a four-mile section under the Hudson River.

However, the project was shelved due to high PJM interconnection fees.

Several years later, the HTP project was reexamined because of the pending retirement of New York’s Charles Poletti generation plant. (See article in GSERNA’s previous newsletter http://www.gdfsuezenergyresources.com/Ourexp/_2009 archives/Q4NE_Poletti.aspx).

Source : http://hudsonproject.com

Modifications were made to lower costs. The original HTP project was for 660MWs of PJM Firm Transmission Withdrawal Rights (FTWR). But when changed to 320MWs of FTWR, the PJM interconnection costs dropped. NYPA would have the option later to increase the FTWR to 660MW.

Still, a NYC transmission study in 2009 determined that the HTP line was not needed. NYPA contends that it supports the HTP project not only because of economics but also because of reliability and job creation.

NYPA wants to make a decision in the next 3 to 4 months. If the HTP project is built, NYPA’s supply RFP for PJM generation will exclude coal generation to prevent greenhouse gas leakage – buying dirtier power from PJM states that do not participate in regional greenhouse gas initiatives.