Gov. Lincoln D. Chafee has trumpeted the potential of Canadian hydropower to supply so-called clean electricity to the New England, and he is not alone. Solar and wind power also have been targeted for growth. But no matter the source, the region needs more than renewable energy to meet its needs.
The increase in natural gas supply created by the growing use of hydraulic fracturing in the continental U.S. may not be optimal – it is still a fossil fuel, after all – but it is a better bridge to the future than heating oil and heavy fuel oil.
These two pieces of the region’s energy puzzle have been conjoined in Massachusetts through plans to build new electricity transmission lines from Canada to the United States and expand the natural gas infrastructure to the west. Neither is without controversy.
Legislation proposed in Boston that linked the two projects through tariffs on electricity transmission failed to pass, leaving them both in limbo. That is not acceptable.
There is no question that in the short term, both large-scale hydropower and more natural gas supply are needed to meet the region’s energy needs and it must be financed.
Less obvious is the need for an electricity ratepayer subsidy to develop the gas pipeline expansion. In fact, one pipeline builder already has been working on lining up gas customers on its own to pay for the construction.
The Bay State is the key to the region’s energy supply, so it should waste no time in creating the funding mechanism to build the necessary electricity infrastructure. And it should let the market take care of constructing the extra gas capacity. •