Gallus wants federal money to
pay for transmission upgrade
BERLIN — State Senator John
Gallus wants to use federal money
to upgrade the transmission line in
Coos County. He said he hopes to
work with the state’s Congressional
delegation to attract the $100 million
to $200 million required to upgrade
the Coos loop to handle the more
than 500 megawatts of renewable
energy projects already proposed for
the region.
Before meeting with delegation,
Gallus is working on a bill that he
hopes to get passed by the state legislature.
The bill would give the state
permission to bond to upgrade the line
if federal funds become available.
He said the legislation would allow
the state to borrow the necessary
money for the upgrade with the federal
government providing the funding
to cover the bond payments.
“It costs the state nothing this way,”
Gallus said.
The Berlin Republican said the
state’s budget problems prevent it
from covering the cost of upgrading
the Coos loop. Gallus said waiting
for the Federal Energy Regulatory
Agency or ISO-New England to work
out a way of allocating costs for transmission
upgrades could take years.
Massachusetts and Connecticut have
publicly stated their opposition to
regionalizing costs through the rate
structure.
Gallus points to the incoming
Obama administration’s emphasis on
developing the nation’s green infrastructure.
He said upgrading the Coos
loop would meet that objective. There
is 570 megawatts of new generation
proposed in renewable energy projects
in the ISO-NE queue for Coos County.
Without a major upgrade, the line can
only handle another 100 megawatts of
power. Noble Energy has an applica-
tion before the state Site Evaluation
Committee for a 99-megawatt wind
farm in Phillips Brook that would use
up most of that capacity.
Gallus said the upgrade might qualify
for federal Energy Effi ciency Funds
or serve as a pilot project under the
stimulus package the Obama administration
is expected to propose early
this year.
“The timing, he said, “appears to be
opportune to get the funds to kick in
some.”
At the same time, recent estimates
of the cost of upgrading the Coos loop
are considerable lower than initial fi gures.
“The good news is the cost seems to
be going down,” Gallus said.
A 2007 study by the N.H. Public
Utilities outlined several options for
upgrading the line, ranging in cost
from $160 million to $210 million. Last
month, Joseph Staszowski, director of
transmission planning for Northeast
Utility, released new estimates of $125
million to $155 million to the legislative
committee studying the issue. He
said those fi gures could drop another
$25 million after the 10-year ISO-NE
study is completed in the second quarter
of 2009.
Gallus said he is waiting to review a
fi nal draft of his bill and then will get
his cosponsors in both the House and
Senate to sign by the Jan. 12 cut-off
date. He hopes to get Gov. Lynch onboard
and is optimistic the bill will be
favorably received by the legislature.
Gallus also plans to meet with the
state’s Congressional delegation to
discuss going after federal funding for
the transmission upgrade.
Even if the legislature passes his
bill, Gallus said the real work would
rest with the Congressional delegation
to come up with the necessary
federal funding.
Gallus’ bill will not be the only one to
deal with the Coos transmission issue.
The chair of the legislative committee
set up last year to develop a plan to
expand the transmission capacity is
expected to submit a bill to continue
that body’s work. The committee
endorsed a series of recommendations
in its fi nal report but did not approve
a specifi c plan. One of the recommendations
was to continue the work of
the committee.
AI
