New York imports hit 2025 high as Quebec hydropower line opens

NYISO imported 52 GWh of electricity from Canada on July 3, the highest cross-border trade with Canada since January 2025. The U.S. Energy Information Administration linked the jump to new transmission capacity, including the Champlain Hudson Power Express.

Some of that power moved over CHPE, the 1,250-megawatt high-voltage direct current line that runs 339 miles from Quebec to New York City and is fully buried or underwater. The project reached commercial operations in May after three years of construction, and CHPE said Hydro-Québec’s contract with New York began on June 1 after commissioning finished ahead of schedule.

Gov. Kathy Hochul on June 16 celebrated completion of the project and said the line could meet up to 20% of New York City’s energy needs with emission-free hydropower. NYSERDA marked the same project completion date, underscoring how quickly the line has moved from construction into utility-scale service.

The EIA said electricity imports from Canada help support grid reliability in New York and the Northeast, a role NYISO has long folded into its reliability strategy. For liquid biofuels, that kind of buildout matters because it gives New York another large-scale decarbonization tool in sectors where clean electricity and low-carbon fuels have both competed for policy space.

The tradeoff is not unlimited. Marketplace reported on May 12 that Quebec’s power surplus is not what it once was, a reminder that the province’s ability to keep feeding New York is constrained even as the first major deliveries from CHPE ramp up. That ceiling leaves New York balancing two pathways to emissions cuts, more imported hydropower on one side and liquid biofuels on the other, in markets where both have pressed for a role.