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Emera Inc. and National Grid Announce New Partnership on Electric Transmission Line
HALIFAX, Nova Scotia and Brooklyn, New York, March 19, 2008, (TSX: EMA, LSE: NG, NYSE: NGG) Emera Inc. and National Grid today announced their intention to partner on the development of the Northeast Energy Link transmission connection.
National Grid will join Emera Inc. and Spectra Energy, who are working to evaluate the feasibility of a new electric transmission line from northern Maine and Maritime Canada to supply energy to the southern New England market.
The Northeast Energy Link would provide the New England market with new access to a portfolio of existing and future renewable generation developments in both northern Maine and Atlantic Canada. This would provide reliable and cost-effective electricity to the growing New England market and assist state governments in achieving their environmental objectives.
“National Grid has significant electric transmission experience and a strong market presence in New England,” said Chris Huskilson, President and CEO of Emera Inc. “This complements Emera's market position in Atlantic Canada and Maine . Working together with National Grid we intend to play a role in New England 's future transmission development plans.”
“We are excited to be working with Emera on this project, said Masheed Saidi, Executive Vice President and COO U.S. Transmission, National Grid. “While the project is still in its early stages, we are looking forward to bringing our expertise in constructing and operating transmission networks to the project team.”
The new transmission infrastructure would be built in a multi-phase project that would initially provide for 660 MW of electricity transfer from Atlantic Canada and northern Maine directly to Massachusetts . Additional benefits and market efficiencies include:
- increased trade and investments between Atlantic Canada and New England ;
- supporting New England 's renewable portfolio standard targets;
- stable electricity costs for all customers in New England ;
- increased reliability within the New England ISO and the Maritime provinces ;
- enabling development of new generation in both Atlantic Canada and Maine.
Forward Looking Information
This news release contains forward looking information. Actual future results may differ materially. Additional financial and operational information is filed electronically with various securities commissions in Canada through the System for Electronic Document Analysis and Retrieval (SEDAR).
About Emera
Emera Inc. (EMA-TSX) is an energy and services company with $4.2 billion in assets. Electricity is Emera's core business. The company has two wholly-owned regulated electric utility subsidiaries, Nova Scotia Power Inc. and Bangor Hydro-Electric Company, which together serve 600,000 customers. Emera also owns 19% of St. Lucia Electricity Services Limited, which serves more than 50,000 customers on the Caribbean island of St. Lucia . In addition to its electric utility investments, Emera has a joint venture interest in Bear Swamp, a 600 megawatt pumped storage hydro-electric facility in northern Massachusetts; a 12.9% interest in the Maritimes & Northeast Pipeline; and Emera Energy Services which manages energy assets on behalf of third parties. Visit Emera on the web at www.emera.com .
About National Grid
National Grid is an international energy delivery company. In the U.S. , National Grid delivers electricity to approximately 3.3 million customers in Massachusetts , New Hampshire , New York and Rhode Island , and manages the electricity network on Long Island under an agreement with the Long Island Power Authority. National Grid is the largest power producer in New York State , owning 6,650 megawatts of electricity generation that provides power to over one million LIPA customers and supplies roughly a quarter of New York City 's electricity needs. It is also the largest distributor of natural gas in the northeastern U.S. , serving approximately 3.4 million customers in New York , Massachusetts , New Hampshire and Rhode Island.