In a year marked by setbacks for Massachusetts’ climate agenda, a rare bright spot emerged this week: The news that a long-delayed transmission line bringing carbon-free electricity from Canada to New England is expected to be up and running by the end of the year.
Avangrid, the developer of the New England Clean Energy Connect project, announced Wednesday that it got the final permit for the project from the Maine Department of Environmental Protection and should finish testing and commissioning next month.
Once online, the project will carry about 1,200 megawatts of electricity generated at Hydro Quebec into New England — approximately what’s needed to power 1 million homes in the region…