Starting next year, Hydro-Quebec will ship power to Vermont under a new 26 year power purchase agreement, according to the Montreal Gazette.
The starting price for the power is US$58.07 per megawatt hour.
By contrast, and if it goes ahead, the recently announce Muskrat Falls project in Labrador will produce power in 2017 for about $143 per megawatt hour according to Newfoundland and Labrador Premier Kathy Dunderdale.*
Under the new agreement, Vermont utilities will purchase up to 225 megawatts of energy, starting in November 2012 and ending in 2038.
The agreement includes a price-smoothing mechanism that will help shield Vermont customers from volatile market prices, the utilities said.
Under the proposed 824 megawatt Muskrat Falls project, the only confirmed customers are Newfoundland and Labrador - where the power isn’t needed – and Nova Scotia where Emera will receive 35 terawatt years of power in exchange for building a $1.2 billion intertie between Newfoundland and Cape Breton.
- srbp -
*Edited to clarify the reference to Muskrat Falls