Champlain Hudson Power Express Begins Delivering Canadian Hydropower to New York City Over a 339-Mile Buried Line
The 1,250 MW HVDC line reached commercial operation ahead of schedule and began contract deliveries June 1, capable of carrying roughly 20% of NYC's power from Hydro-Québec.
Editor's Note ·
- Correction:
- The summary states the line "began contract deliveries June 1." That specific date does not appear in the article body or in any of the cited accessible sources (Utility Dive, Energy Central, Wikipedia). What the sources establish is that the line reached commercial operation ahead of schedule (S&P Global's report is dated mid-May) when operation had not been expected until June; the precise contract delivery-start date is not verified here.
- Clarification:
- The first-year contract strike price of $97.50/MWh is attributed to S&P Global, which was inaccessible (HTTP 403) to verification and is not corroborated in the accessible Energy Central republication. The figure could not be independently confirmed.
Overview
The Champlain Hudson Power Express (CHPE), a 1,250-megawatt high-voltage direct current transmission line, reached commercial operation ahead of schedule, clearing the way for Canadian hydropower to flow into New York City, according to Energy Central, which republished reporting from S&P Global. The line was not expected to reach commercial operation until June, per the same report.
The buried line connects the Canadian grid to a converter station in Queens under a 25-year delivery contract with the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA), according to Utility Dive. At full capacity, it can supply roughly 20% of New York City’s power demand, according to Energy Central.
What We Know
CHPE is a 1,250 MW buried high-voltage direct-current line running more than 300 miles from the Hertel substation in Quebec to the Astoria Annex Substation in Queens, New York, according to Utility Dive. The same outlet reports the line is slated to deliver 10.4 TWh a year from Hydro-Québec under a 25-year contract with NYSERDA, and that the developer, Transmission Developers Inc., is backed by the private equity firm Blackstone and operates the project as CHPE LLC.
The line reached its commercial operational date early, with developers having initially expected operation in early June, according to S&P Global. The contract with NYSERDA carries a strike price of $97.50/MWh in the first year, escalating thereafter, per the same source.
Because commercial operation arrived ahead of the contract start, the line also cleared NYISO’s testing deadline for the July capacity market one month earlier than expected, according to Energy Central. The early completion arrives as New York City is forecast to see 90-degree temperatures, the same source reports.
Regulatory and Market Context
Before the line could begin selling into New York’s wholesale market, federal regulators had to approve new market rules. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission signed off on revisions to NYISO’s Open Access Transmission Tariff and its Market Administration and Control Area Services Tariff, according to Utility Dive. NYISO has characterized CHPE as the first merchant transmission facility under its operational control that employs physical reservations to allocate transmission rights, per the same report.
Utility Dive reports that ratepayers are projected to see energy bills increase $1.65 per month for the first full year of operation.
What We Don’t Know
The public sources reviewed do not detail how much of the 1,250 MW capacity Hydro-Québec will dispatch on an average day versus at peak, nor the precise mix of generation the line will carry over the life of the contract. They also do not quantify how much additional transmission New York City will need beyond CHPE as data-center growth and the retirement of fossil generation reshape demand. CHPE adds a firm, dispatchable source of low-carbon power, but it is one line among many investments the region is pursuing.
Background
CHPE is a buried HVDC line, a design that avoids the overhead towers that have stalled other long-distance transmission projects. Construction on the line began in 2022, according to Wikipedia, and its route traverses Lake Champlain, the Hudson River, the Harlem River, and the East River on its way into Queens. The commissioning lands amid a wave of US transmission activity aimed at moving low-carbon power to demand centers, alongside efforts to upgrade existing corridors rather than build new ones.