New York’s newest energy source of hydroelectric power from Canada is online and operating at full capacity July 2, sending New York City 1250 megawatts (MW) of power.
The new energy source, the Champlain Hudson Power Express, or CHPE, pronounced “chippy,” was scheduled to start serving New York City at full force on July 1. CHPE is a 5-inch-diameter transmission cable that extends from Quebec to Queens.
The 339-mile, $6 billion transmission line has the capacity to meet 20 percent of New York City’s power needs. It went live on May 13, but its official start date to serve the New York City energy market was July 1. But early Wednesday, the transmission line went offline.
A technical issue at the Hertel converter station in Montreal stopped transmission July 1, repair of that problem “then triggered a secondary issue which has also been resolved,” said Lynn St-Laurent, communications advisor at Hydro-Québec, via email. She said a Hydro-Québec team worked around the clock to fix the problem.
As of 12:30 p.m. Thursday, the line was back up and providing New York City with 100 MW of power, enough for 100,000 homes. By 4:45 pm the line was at full capacity: 1250 MW.
Heading into the heat wave July 1, New York’s independent grid operator, NYISO, is asking New Yorkers to conserve energy. The grid operator “suggests conserving power, if safe to do so, by raising air-conditioning thermostats and postponing unnecessary use of major appliances.”
New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani echoed that message on X Wednesday, asking New Yorkers to keep their thermostats at 78 degrees to ease the strain on New York’s electrical grid.
New York’s electrical grid faces the greatest demand during summer, when offices use air conditioning all day; residential use peaks in the evening when workers go home.
The new transmission line from Canada is expected to strengthen the city’s stretched and aging grid and assist with summer demand. With CHPE online, New York City may not need to rely on older, oil-burning power plants that provide backup power.
Presently, New York City generates more than 90 percent of its energy from burning fossil fuels. The onboarding of CHPE pushes the state closer to the goals passed in the 2019 Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act (CLCPA).
According to the governor’s office, “CHPE will cut carbon emissions by 3.9 million carbon tons,” which is “equivalent of taking hundreds of thousands of cars off our roads.”
At a press conference June 16 at the Astoria Energy Complex in Queens, Gov. Kathy Hochul celebrated the transmission line completion.
“This is not just a power line. This is a lifeline,” she said. “This is a lifeline for thousands of homes and businesses and individuals.”
That’s largely because the current electrical grid is undergoing a transition away from carbon sources of energy. Making sure that users have reliable electricity this summer will require close collaboration of plant operators, utility companies, and government officials, said Aaron Markham, vice president of operations for NYISO.
“This assessment reflects the challenges of the grid in transition—declining reliability margins, performance issues with aging generators, and an absence of new dispatchable resources,” Markham said in an April statement about system reliability.
Hydro-Québec has sought to sell its abundant hydropower to the Northeast United States for years, but the opportunity coalesced after New York State passed the CLCPA and New York’s energy development authority actively sought to cut electricity generated by fossil fuels to just 30 percent by 2030.
The transmission line brings hydroelectric power to the city from Canada, where Hydro-Québec manages a network of dams. Unlike solar and wind, which rise and fall with weather, hydropower can be stored as water in a reservoir and dispatched at any hour, depending on the city’s needs.
“As aging fossil-fuel plants deactivate or experience performance declines, the system loses assets that provided dependable, multi-hour output and operational flexibility. New resources, primarily wind, solar, and shorter-duration storage, offer benefits but currently lack the full range of capabilities needed,” NYISO wrote in its 2026 Power Trends report.
That’s particularly true in New York City, which until 2021 relied on the Indian Point Nuclear facility for clean power. Its closure in 2021 required the city to burn more fossil fuel for power, increasing emissions. At peak, Indian Point Nuclear Plant could provide 25 percent to 30 percent of the city’s electricity needs.
The reduced reliability margins of the grid in New York State have largely been self-imposed, as reliable carbon-emitting energy sources have closed before clean energy sources have come online.
CHPE, which will serve to replace much of the energy provided by Indian Point, is strengthening reliability in the grid. Even so, the grid operator warns that further investment to secure reliability on the grid is needed now, before older facilities are retired and demand rises further.
