As many of us learned this winter, electricity prices in New England are going up. The region’s become increasingly reliant on natural gas, but we can’t get enough of it into the region on high-demand winter days. Canada has a lot of clean energy to spare in the form of hydropower, and Gov. Charlie Baker and other New England governors are taking the first steps to bring more of that electricity south.
So could hydro be the clean, renewable energy alternative to building a new natural gas pipeline?
Hydropower is pretty simple.
Most of the time it involves a dam. Like the Great Stone Dam in Lawrence.
"It’s a 900-foot-long, 25-foot high waterfall," said Randald Bartlett standing above it.
This dam once turned the wheels of mills along the Merrimack River, propelling Massachusetts into the Industrial Revolution and making it the textile capital of the country.
"The dam looks exactly like it was when it was built in the 1800s,” Bartlett said.
It works a lot like it did in the 1800s, too. The dam holds water back at a higher elevation, so gravity can do the work of pulling water into the hydroelectric plant below, run by Bartlett and seven others from a company called Enel Green Power. Inside the plant, the water spins a propeller, called a runner.
"As we as we open those gates, the water’s allowed to go through and spin the runner," Bartlett said. "If we look right here, this is where the power’s being created right now.”
The spinning runner powers a generator that creates electricity. That power’s fed into the same grid used by other utilities.
The Lawrence plant is the biggest of 96 hydroelectric facilities scattered across the commonwealth that are contributing to the energy supply. Some are really small.
Kevin Olson’s hydroelectric generator in Methuen is just a little bit bigger than a refrigerator. His family has been running hydroelectric plants for generations.
"On any given day, when we’re running at a hundred percent capacity, this will probably power 100 homes," Olson said.
This one is powered by water from an adjacent dam on the Spicket River.
"Fun fact about this dam is that it was built right after the civil war and in order to keep the granite slabs from shifting, they actually used old surplus cannonballs from the war," Olson said. "So you have old Civil War cannonballs in there to this day.”
Olson doesn't know what his specific carbon footprint is, but Tom Tarpey, president of the Bay State Hydropower Association, happens to be on hand to clarify this question before answering it.
"Do you mean to say how many pounds of carbon dioxide are released per megawatt hour of energy?” Tarpey asks.
I would never say it in that sophisticated a way, but yes.
"Um, essentially, zero."
The hydro produced in Massachusetts has a minuscule carbon footprint — which is great for a state with a goal of reducing emissions 80 percent by the year 2050. But Tarpey says the commonwealth’s hydro industry can’t grow much more.
"I think among the general populace, hydro is hydro," he said. "It all just means water power. And unfortunately for the hydro industry in Massachusetts, they’re talking about large hydro from HydroQuebec.”
“They” being the New England governors who want to bring in more power from Canada and HydroQuebec, the largest hydro company up there. The reason Tarpey says that could be unfortunate for the hydro industry in Massachusetts is, in part, because Canadian hydro has been really cheap. Local hydro guys like Tarpey and Olsen and other renewable wind and solar producers worry they’ll be put out of business if Canadian hydro floods the market.
They’re not the only ones with concerns.
“Not all hydropower is created equal,” said Greg Cunningham, director of the clean energy and climate change program at the Conservation Law Foundation. He points out that, in this case, size matters. The Great Stone Dam in Lawrence stretches 2.5 football fields long. Dams in Canada are as long as 14 football fields. Some are so big they flooded whole forests — and the decomposing trees produce carbon emissions.
"There have been a few different studies that seem to indicate that within the first 10 years, the CO2 implications are approaching that of a natural gas power plant,” Cunningham said.
For the people responsible for making sure New England has enough energy, though, the big problem with Canadian hydro is that Canada doesn’t always send energy south on high-demand winter days, when New England needs it most.
That’s what Gordon van Welie, president of ISO New England, the independent organization that oversees the region’s massive interconnected grid, told the first meeting of a newly constituted group of New England governors late last month. Van Welie said hydro is the one renewable source that could solve the region’s energy crisis in time.
" … but only if the delivery of that energy has been guaranteed, since our neighbors to the north also experience high demand for their energy during the cold winter months,” van Welie said.
HydroQuebec, the largest hydroelectricity company in Canada, says it’s ready to be reliable. In a statement to WGBH News, Hydro-Quebec said it is "willing to ensure supply to New England, even during peak winter days, through long-term energy contracts."
Supporters of a new natural-gas pipeline insist New England shouldn’t bank on just one solution. Kinder Morgan is one of the companies that wants to build a pipeline. And Kinder Morgan Vice President Allen Fore says the region needs a diversity of energy sources.
"What we’re saying is that for the long-term solution for New England’s energy needs, pipeline capacity, as well as renewables, need to be part of that solution,” Fore said.
So far the New England governors seem to agree. They’ve asked companies to submit proposals to build the high-voltage transmission lines needed to bring more Canadian hydro south. And even though that could reduce the region’s need for natural gas and help New England maneuver its way out of its energy crisis, the governors, including Gov. Charlie Baker, still say the region needs a new natural gas pipeline.
