Green Line is an undersea electric transmission line proposed by the New England Independent Transmission Company, LLC (NEITC). Green Line will move at least 660 megawatts (MW) of power from Maine to Boston, and potentially beyond. Its goals are to encourage the development of renewable resources in northern New England by providing the necessary infrastructure to bring “green” power to more densely populated areas to the south, including the Boston area, while at the same time increasing the supply of reliable energy into the largest demand center in New England.
The New England states can only meet their expanding renewable portfolio standards (RPS) and Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) goals by substantially expanding the New England transmission grid. Energy efficiency, demand side management, and renewable energy generation projects in southern New England will help to achieve those goals, but the bulk of the new renewable supply resources will have to come from Maine and eastern Canada, where the greatest potential exists for renewable energy development in the form of wind, biomass, tidal, and hydro-electric power.
Green Line will enable New England to meet its RPS and RGGI goals in a reliable, economic, and environmentally benign manner by bypassing congestion that now exists on the existing overhead transmission lines between northern and southern New England.