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BERLIN, Conn. - Eversource and National Grid partnered on the approximately $483 million Interstate Reliability Project.

The work included station upgrades

and the installation of a new 345-kilovolt (kV) transmission line along 75 miles of existing, contiguous rights-of-way in Connecticut, Massachusetts and Rhode Island, according to a news release from the utilities. The new line and related improvements will enhance reliable delivery of power to customers throughout New England and strengthen the regional electric grid.

David Boguslawski, Vice President of Transmission Strategy & Operations at Eversource said:

By strengthening the backbone of the regional grid, the project delivers environmental benefits such as enabling broader regional access to future renewable energy resources and allowing existing renewable resources to reach previously constrained areas. Additionally, farmland was protected as conservation land and critical wildlife habitats received special care during construction, said in a news release. Once the work was complete, the restored rights-of-way added hundreds of acres of important new wildlife habitat that has been shrinking in New England.

Along with the system reliability and environmental benefits, the IRP will also produce millions of dollars of new, annual property tax revenues to 18 municipalities in the three states where the project was constructed. Additionally, hundreds of workers were employed to work on the IRP that began in early 2014.



The completion of the IRP caps off the New England East West Solution or "NEEWS" - a suite of projects designed to strengthen the reliability of the regional power grid by improving its efficiency and eliminating crippling congestion that can be very costly for customers. Collectively, the NEEWS projects are the largest upgrade to the regional transmission system in many years. During the past 10 years, while the NEEWS projects were being planned, sited and developed, New England experienced an unprecedented wave of power plant retirements, which made these robust, long-term transmission improvements even more important.

