I may have mentioned in my article last week that hydro power was always one of the things that fascinated me as a child. I grew up right on the Connecticut River in Massachusetts, right next to an old mill town complete with a dam and canals. For the most part, the mills were non-operational during my time there, though the dam was sending water through two giant turbines to create electricity. You could actually visit it in May and June to watch the fish swimming up the river on the fish elevator. There was this deep hum and buzzing vibration that seemed to permeate every single surface in the turbine room.
That hydroelectric operation was pretty small potatoes though. With its two turbines, it has a capacity of 31 megawatts. The canal system beyond the main dam consists of 11 smaller generating stations with the additional combined capacity of 15 megawatts. They’re also what’s called a run-of-the-river station and are not allowed to store any water or block it from flowing downstream. This whole thing is located in Holyoke, Massachusetts. It’s pretty obvious since it’s a giant dam on the river.
There are plenty of these kinds of small hydroelectric projects on local rivers throughout New England. Turners Falls, MA and Bellows Falls, VT have similar operations to the one in Holyoke. As the 19th century mills fell out of use, small hydroelectric projects often replaced them. They don’t create too much power and it tends to stay relatively local. However, there is something much bigger, much more important and much less noticeable about 80 miles northeast of Holyoke in the small town of Ayer, Massachusetts.
You wouldn’t even notice it if you didn’t know what to look for, but in Ayer, there is a road called Radisson Road that leads to what looks like any other electric substation. Sure, it may be a bit larger, and seem to be slightly more complex, but surely it’s just another substation, right? Actually, the station in Ayer represents the southern terminus of a truly massive hydroelectric project that starts over 1,100 kilometers north in Radisson, Quebec, Canada. The project in Quebec that creates the power that ultimately ends up as far south as Ayer is known as the James Bay Project.
Consisting of eight major generating stations on the La Grande River, the project has a capacity of over 16,000 megawatts (enough to send 13 DeLoreans back to 1985). However, the actual generation location is located far north of any densely populated areas where the power can be used. The power needs to be transmitted south to southern Quebec, and to the northeast US. Because the power isn’t really being used along the way, instead of being transmitted as alternating current, as with most power transmission, they actually use a high voltage direct current (HVDC) line. In fact, it’s one of only two multi-terminal HVDC lines in the whole world (the other is in Italy). This allows for fewer transmission losses, but requires complex equipment to convert the power back to grid-level AC, which is what the station at Ayer does. There are terminals in Nicolet, QC and in Des Cantons, QC just outside of Windsor, QC as well that allow power to be used in highly populated areas of southern Quebec including Montreal.
If you live in Vermont or northern New Hampshire, you might’ve seen people talking about the “Northern Pass Project”. This is basically what they are talking about. Before getting to Ayer, the power is transmitted across the US-Canadian border near Norton, Vermont. It then travels south to the Frank D. Comerford Dam located on the Connecticut River between Barnet, VT and Monroe, NH. The Northern Pass Project is essentially a request to build out another line in northern New Hampshire that could feed the grid in New Hampshire, as well as providing additional power to sites further south.
This whole system is just amazing to me, as I hope it is to you. Many of the components of this system are just sitting out there, visible for anyone to see, but most people have no idea what they are. I’ve been to Comerford Station in Barnet, VT. I’ve driven under the transmission lines on route 114 in Norton, VT. The journey that this power takes, all the way from northern Quebec, is incredible. When you see those lines, or that converting station, the whole complexity of the system is hidden from view. I hope this article creates a bit of appreciation of these large, critical systems. Without them most of the modern amenities we enjoy wouldn’t be possible.
Sadly, much of this system has come at a high environmental cost as well as a high cost to the native peoples of northern Quebec (mostly Cree). It’s so large, and the area inundated under the reservoirs so massive, it’s even affected the local climate. I’ve struggled to find good information about the project and how everything played out since most of it was built more than 30 years ago. One of the best books on the subject is Strangers Devour the Land (ISBN: 978-1603580045) by Boyce Richardson. I believe the book is out of print at this point, but I was able to find my copy from the publisher, Chelsea Green Publishing.