The power line that could reshape New York’s grid is hitting snags
The power line that could reshape New York’s grid is hitting snags
可能重塑纽约电网的输电线路正遭遇阻碍
On July 3, as a heat wave swept the region, New York State’s grid imported 52 gigawatt-hours of electricity from Canada—enough to meet about 9% of its total electricity demand that day. Some of that power shuttled in on a 339-mile power line stretching from Quebec to Queens called the Champlain Hudson Power Express (CHPE). It opened in May and is officially the longest underground transmission line in North America. 7月3日，随着热浪席卷该地区，纽约州电网从加拿大进口了52吉瓦时的电力，足以满足当天约9%的总电力需求。其中部分电力是通过一条从魁北克延伸至皇后区、全长339英里的输电线路输送的，该线路被称为“尚普兰-哈德逊电力快线”（CHPE）。它于今年5月开通，是北美目前最长的地下输电线路。
An underground power line might not sound all that exciting, but this could be a big deal for the state’s grid planning, and for emissions. It could provide up to 20% of New York City’s electricity demand, largely with abundant hydropower from Quebec. One wrinkle: The line has been down for most of this month, and some experts are concerned about how drought will affect the power supply feeding it. Let’s look at how the CHPE transmission line could help shape the future of our grid, and what barriers it needs to overcome to make a difference. 地下输电线路听起来可能并不令人兴奋，但这对于该州的电网规划和减排工作来说意义重大。它有望满足纽约市高达20%的电力需求，且主要依靠魁北克丰富的水电。但有一个问题：该线路本月大部分时间处于停运状态，一些专家担心干旱会影响其电力供应。让我们来看看CHPE输电线路将如何塑造电网的未来，以及它需要克服哪些障碍才能发挥作用。
Planning for the CHPE (which is charmingly pronounced “chippy”) started 15 years ago, with the permitting process formally beginning in March 2010. The vision was to build infrastructure to better connect Quebec and southern New York. Over 99% of Quebec’s electricity comes from renewable sources; most demand is met with hydropower, though the province’s wind capacity is growing quickly. New York has some hydropower of its own, as well as nuclear and wind, but the state still relies on fossil fuels for most of its energy generation. CHPE（其发音被亲切地称为“chippy”）的规划始于15年前，审批程序于2010年3月正式启动。其愿景是建立基础设施，以更好地连接魁北克和纽约南部。魁北克超过99%的电力来自可再生能源；大部分需求由水电满足，尽管该省的风电装机容量也在迅速增长。纽约州自身拥有一些水电、核电和风电，但该州大部分能源生产仍依赖化石燃料。
Transmission Developers, a company owned by the alternative asset management firm Blackstone, and Hydro-Québec, the province’s manager of generation and transmission, partnered to build CHPE. Construction began in late 2022 and wrapped up earlier this year. The total cost for the privately funded project turned out to be $6 billion. 由另类资产管理公司黑石集团（Blackstone）旗下的Transmission Developers公司，与魁北克省发电和输电管理机构魁北克水电公司（Hydro-Québec）合作建设了CHPE。工程于2022年底动工，并于今年早些时候完工。这个私人投资项目的总成本最终为60亿美元。
The construction of this line was a feat. It’s made up of a bundle of two high-voltage direct-current power cables, each measuring roughly five inches across. Developers buried the bundle underground or underwater across the length of New York State. Much of the line was laid at the bottom of the Hudson River, requiring special boats that shot water jets deep into the sediment to create trenches for the cable. 这条线路的建设是一项壮举。它由两根高压直流电缆组成，每根直径约5英寸。开发商将这些电缆束埋在纽约州全境的地下或水下。大部分线路铺设在哈德逊河底，需要使用特种船只将高压水射流喷射到深层沉积物中，为电缆开辟沟槽。
Connecting grids together can help accelerate the transition away from fossil fuels. The ability to move electricity to where it’s needed could also help limit the amount of new capacity we need to build. Research has shown that interconnection can help cut emissions and lower system costs. But CHPE is off to a slow start and has seen two outages so far. The first, on July 1, was reportedly caused by a trip at a converter on the Canadian side of the border. The second outage began on July 4, and the power line is still down as of the morning of July 22. 连接电网有助于加速摆脱对化石燃料的依赖。将电力输送到需要的地方，也有助于限制我们需要新建的装机容量。研究表明，电网互联有助于减少排放并降低系统成本。但CHPE的开局缓慢，目前已发生两次停运。据报道，7月1日的第一次停运是由加拿大边境一侧的转换器跳闸引起的。第二次停运始于7月4日，截至7月22日上午，该输电线路仍处于停运状态。
Some experts say this isn’t unusual for a new infrastructure project. Other power lines have seen similar startup challenges, and the equipment hasn’t really been fully tested until it’s in operation, Normand Mousseau, a physics professor at Université de Montréal, told the Gazette. Officials traced the issue to a damaged section of cable on the US side of the border, and the company that manufactured the line sent experts to investigate the cause, according to reporting from RTO Insider, a trade publication. 蒙特利尔大学物理学教授Normand Mousseau告诉《公报》，对于新的基础设施项目来说，这种情况并不罕见。其他输电线路也曾遇到类似的启动挑战，设备在投入运行前并未得到真正的全面测试。据行业刊物《RTO Insider》报道，官员们将问题追溯到美国边境一侧的一段受损电缆，线路制造商已派遣专家调查原因。
The damaged portion of the cable has been removed and replaced, says Lynn St-Laurent, a spokesperson for Hydro-Québec. “It is currently estimated that the remaining work, including necessary post-repair testing, will be completed by the weekend.” 魁北克水电公司发言人Lynn St-Laurent表示，受损的电缆部分已被拆除并更换。“目前预计剩余工作，包括必要的维修后测试，将在周末前完成。”
Similar woes have afflicted the New England Clean Energy Connect line, which opened in January, stretching 145 miles from Quebec to Maine. That project has also seen outages, and very little additional energy has flowed into the Northeast. The good news for New York is that the grid wasn’t relying on CHPE yet. “Our planning studies did not assume CHPE would be available this summer, and that was one reason the grid performed reliably during the heat wave earlier this month,” Kevin Lanahan, a spokesperson for the New York Independent System Operator, the state’s grid management company, said in a statement. “A core principle of reliability planning is not relying on any single project.” 类似的困境也困扰着1月份开通的“新英格兰清洁能源连接”线路，该线路全长145英里，从魁北克延伸至缅因州。该项目也出现了停运，且流入东北部的额外能源非常有限。对纽约来说，好消息是电网目前尚未依赖CHPE。“我们的规划研究并未假设CHPE会在今年夏天投入使用，这也是本月初热浪期间电网能够可靠运行的原因之一，”纽约独立系统运营商（该州的电网管理公司）发言人Kevin Lanahan在一份声明中表示。“可靠性规划的核心原则是不依赖任何单一项目。”
The idea is that eventually, states and regions will be able to rely—at least in part—on these projects, so there is pressure to get them working smoothly: Building massive transmission lines is a major long-term investment. In future years, as the equipment gets stress-tested and utilities begin to feel more confident in the projects’ reliability, they could play a bigger role on the grid. 其理念是，最终各州和地区将能够——至少在一定程度上——依赖这些项目，因此确保它们顺利运行存在压力：建设大型输电线路是一项重大的长期投资。在未来几年，随着设备通过压力测试，公用事业公司开始对项目的可靠性更有信心，它们可能会在电网中发挥更大的作用。
One thing to keep an eye on moving forward is the condition of Quebec’s hydropower fleet: The region has seen intense drought for the past three years, eating into the water reserves used to generate electricity. That could mean there won’t always be abundant hydropower to ship across the border—even if the transmission lines are able to carry it. 未来需要关注的一点是魁北克水电设施的状况：该地区过去三年经历了严重的干旱，消耗了用于发电的水储备。这意味着即使输电线路能够承载电力，也不一定总是有充足的水电可以跨境输送。