Hydro-Québec welcomes the report published by the Bureau d’audiences publiques sur l’environnement (BAPE), Québec’s office for public hearings on the environment, with regard to the Hertel–New York interconnection line project. The report states that the commission of inquiry is satisfied with the company’s explanations and commitments in response to concerns expressed by the agricultural community.
The report follows the public hearings held by the BAPE in December 2022 as part of the targeted consultations on the Hertel–New York interconnection line project concerning the protection of agricultural activities and waterways.[1] Targeted consultations are a preferred option when the issues raised are associated with a limited number of concerns and do not call into question the relevance of the project.
The targeted consultations provided an opportunity to discuss a number of environmental matters, including the following:
• In Québec, 95% of the underground line route is located in existing road rights-of-way, thereby limiting the impacts, which are essentially associated with the construction period.
• Hydro-Québec works closely with the local community to develop and validate the best approaches in order to limit the effects of the work on the movement of farm machinery. The work methods selected will also help limit soil compaction on farmland.
• The line’s heat output is expected to have a negligible effect on the underground culverts the line will cross. What’s more, the direct-current line will not generate stray voltage along its route.
• An agronomic follow-up is planned to ensure that the farmland yield is returned to its pre-construction level. Hydro-Québec will implement a monitoring program.
As for the opinion issued by the BAPE regarding future discussions on the energy transition, Hydro-Québec will participate in any process put in place by government authorities regarding Québec’s energy future.
Hertel–New York interconnection line project
The project involves building a transmission line nearly 58 km long between Hertel substation in La Prairie and an interconnection point with the Champlain Hudson Power Express (CHPE) line in the Rivière Richelieu at the Canada–United States border. The CHPE transmission line will deliver 1,250 megawatts of clean hydropower generated by Hydro-Québec to New York City and thus reduce carbon emissions by approximately 3.9 million metric tons per year—the equivalent of taking 44% of the cars currently circulating in the city’s streets off the road.
