LAKE ERIE CONNECTOR PROJECT

The Lake Erie Connector will maximize efficiency and increase competition creating opportunity for significant customer savings.

For Ontario customers, that will translate into:

• $100+ million/year net benefits
• $3 billion in savings over 30 years of the project
• Savings of $22/year per residential customer
• Savings of $660/customer over 30 years of the project

The Lake Erie Connector will enable direct access between Ontario, a significant energy market with a very different resource mix, and PJM, the largest multi-state competitive power market in the world.

This enables the buying and selling of energy, capacity, and renewable energy credits.

Harnessing energy trading with the largest electrical market in the world will allow Ontario to:

• Take advantage of low-cost capacity imports on an as-needed basis.
• Find high-value export markets when the province is in surplus.
• All the while using transmission lines that are presently underutilized.
• These benefits will prove valuable for Ontario's electricity system and help lower costs for residents and businesses.

Having access to the Ontario energy market will provide PJM participants with:

• Increased trading opportunities with resulting increases in market efficiencies.
• The ability for load-serving entities and large electricity customers to obtain energy from non-emitting wind, solar, hydro and nuclear resources during periods of surplus generation in Ontario with a resulting reduction in PJM's emissions profile.

The Lake Erie Connector is a shovel-ready project that has received all necessary regulatory and permitting approvals, including:

• NEB Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity
• U.S. Department of Energy Presidential Permit
• Pennsylvania and U.S. Army Corps permits
• Route finalized, secured necessary real estate
• Positive discussions with Indigenous Communities
• Ontario Ministry of Energy inclusion in the LTEP

ITC/Fortis have invested over USD $40MM to permit the project.

ITC/Fortis are ready to invest USD $1B+ in this Ontario infrastructure.

Moving forward now with the LEC will ensure the infrastructure will be in place for both markets to import and export electricity and enjoy the wide range of benefits.

The Lake Erie Connector can offer significant support to goals laid out in the North American Climate, Clean Energy and Environment Partnership between Canada, USA and Mexico, including the continental goal to achieve 50% clean power generation by 2025.

The Lake Erie Connector can help provide a cleaner energy mix by reducing Ontario’s GHG emissions in the electricity sector by up to 2-3 million tons per year.

It can open access to non-emitting electricity imports to Ontario from PJM during periods of potential capacity shortfalls, such as during Ontario’s nuclear refurbishments.

For PJM participants, load-serving entities and large electricity customers will be positioned to obtain energy from non-emitting wind, solar, hydro and nuclear resources during periods of surplus generation in Ontario with a resulting reduction in PJM's emissions profile.

• The Lake Erie Connector will provide system reliability and security benefits.
• The project is expected to increase market efficiencies and benefit local economics.
• When completed, the Lake Erie Connector will make tax payments which will benefit local communities and residents.

 

High-voltage direct current (HVDC) cables have very little impact on their environmental surroundings. The HVDC technology is safe, reliable and proven. The solid cables are well insulated, contain no gels or liquids, and are made from non-flammable materials. Because the cables are constant direct current (DC), no fluctuating electromagnetic fields are created. The HVDC converter stations that will be located on either end of the cable will utilize the latest technology which has proven robust, flexible and very stable.




Most of the HVDC cable for the Lake Erie Connector will be buried under Lake Erie. The water jet installation process minimizes disturbance to the lake bed and helps minimize the width of the trench, which is barely larger than the cables themselves and which begins to be filled in by natural forces once the cables are in place.




Transmission lines buried underwater are less susceptible to damage by inclement weather or natural disasters.




If a cable is damaged, automatic protection systems stop the power flow within a fraction of a second...