On March 6, at the beginning of the trade war that is still calculated between the United States and Canada, the water power generator stopped by exporting electricity to New England.
At the time of the year when Canadian Canadian energy is usually supplied up to ten New England strengths, instead, the region went almost after about a month without a flow across the border for electrons.
The leaders of Hydro -québec say that the low prices in the New England market – not politics – are behind the decision to suspend sales. The turmoil has not affected the energy or reliability costs in the region yet, but some experts say that it can extend to the cooling season in the summer. The situation also sheds light on the potential risks to developing clean Kindy energy -based energy plans to help compensate fossil fuels.
“This indicates the possibility of the area being vulnerable to the show,” said Philip Turner, director of Clean Grid.
The main transport line of Hydro -Qébec to New England, known as the second stage line, has stopped exporting any meaningful force two days after President Donald Trump’s tariff for Canadian imports. Last March, comparison, it flows anywhere in a few hundred megawatts to more than 1,200 megawatts along the line at any time, and constitutes between 5 percent and 10 percent of the use of electricity in the region on average.
Whenever New England needs to replace absent hydroelectric energy, the more normal gas or oil power plants are called to fill the gap with electricity, dirt and the most expensive electricity, especially with the increased demand in the summer and again in the next winter.
“This electricity, this is largely more boring, and definitely a much easier time than the year to penetrate or stop here,” said Dan Doulan, head of the New England Energy Geneva Association. “There will be both the cost and the environmental result if we see that this is a really solid situation.”
The future of Canadian energy in New England
In an email from a company spokesperson, Hydro -québec attributed its lack of exports to market conditions, saying that the most moderate spring weather has reduced demand and therefore prices. Others theoretically made that this step is also an offer to power It aims at the Trump administration.
Hydro -Gébec sends signals for a period of time that may be far from providing energy to New England at its historical levels. Last year, 5560 GB of power was transferred to the region during the second stage line, less than half of the amount that was exported in 2022. In the last auctions the ISO New England operator, Hydro-Qébec did not abide by any commitment to provide power for 20 months covered.
This withdrawal, at least partially, will be due to dry conditions and abnormal dehydration in most of them from Quebec, which means less water flow to operate the company’s generators. Therefore, Hydro-Qébec face options about what to do with the strength you can generate, whether it means sticking to higher prices in the New England market or selling them locally to meet the increasing demand for boycott as it rises to seek climate goals.
“Hydro-Qébec is managing energy reserves in a proactive way in the context of low surface flow, and in this way, she will continue to reduce its exports as it did in 2024,” said the company spokeswoman Lin Storm.
Experts said that the lack of exports from Québec aquatic, along with the specter of introductory fluctuations and counter -supporters, focuses on the need for the New England network to develop more energy resources in the United States and expand the infrastructure needed to obtain energy when needed.
“We will need all the supplies that we can find, and part of that will come from the Canadian Hydro,” said Jeremy MacDarramide, Managing Director and General Adviser at Clean Energy Association. “We also need to build things: We need to build transport lines. We need to build a new generation.”
Some also feel anxious that ISO New England does not properly represent the decreases in Canadian Canadian supplies. The planning process of the network operator is still using the assumption that the adjacent areas – most of them Quebec, said – will be ready and able to send 2000 megawatts to New England at moments of exceptionally high demand, and Doulan said, “It does not strike me as a responsible or appropriate reliable planning”, given the trend in the exports of the Canadian company.
The situation also raised questions about New England Clean Energy Connect The transport line, a project of 145 miles designed to import 1,200 megawatts of water energy in New England as part of the 20 -year energy purchase agreement with Massachusetts facilities. The line is expected to start starting in 2026, and a Hydro-Qébec spokesman said the company is planning to provide the promised energy.
However, the modern conditions have those in the industry to comb the contracts to determine the extent of the water solid commitment to presenting this force in reality and how the tariff can affect the conditions of the deal. They said that one of the promising signs: The company still sends electricity to the United States during a second smaller transport line that ends in Fairmont, which has an agreement to purchase energy from Hydro-Qébec until 2038.
This seems to indicate this [Hydro-Québec] Turner said: “Performance is within the framework of current contracts. But every contract is in every different position,” Terner said.
Meanwhile, the area will only have to wait and know what Hydro-Qébec does, without much information that must be continued.
“It is difficult to say what stimulates the decision,” Terner said. “We just know that this happens, but we do not know the reason for its occurrence.”
