The climate crisis and the related need to drastically reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions call for a quick decarbonization of the power sector and for the electrification of many energy end-uses. The states and provinces in northeastern North America share similar decarbonization goals. There is however no official plan to integrate balkanised electricity markets in this region. Such an initiative would however reduce both the need for additional production capacity and total system costs.
This report’s objective is to quantify the economic benefits of creating better intertie capacity between electricity markets in northeastern North America. The benefits of better interconnecting northeastern electricity markets are significant in nature, but not widely acknowledged. Many decarbonization studies ignore integration, which is problematic when game-changing hydropower reservoirs could be used to help reduce the cost of integrating large amounts of intermittent renewable capacity.