Massachusetts utilities to continue Northern Pass negotiations after rejection by N.H. regulators

BOSTON – Utilities in Massachusetts have been given more time to decide whether to continue with the Northern Pass transmission project after New Hampshire regulators rejected it last week.

The Boston Globe reports that Massachusetts officials had set a deadline of Friday for the state’s three big electric utilities to decide. The state’s energy resources agency says talks will continue, and further details are expected by Feb. 15.

Backed by Eversource, the project would bring more than 1,000 megawatts of power from Hydro-Quebec along a 192-mile route through New Hampshire. A spokesman for the project says its backers appreciate the time Massachusetts officials are taking. Eversource plans to ask the New Hampshire Site Evaluation Committee to reconsider its decision.

In January, the Northern Pass project was selected from among dozens of bids in a request for proposals to supply renewable energy in Massachusetts.

One of the losing bids was submitted by Central Maine Power, which proposed a competing 145-mile power line to import hydropower from Quebec through western Maine.