The US Department of Energy has given its approval to the proposed Lake Erie power transmission line between Pennsylvania (United States) and Ontario (Canada).
The project is developed by ITC Holdings, the largest independent electric transmission company in the United States. The project is a 1 ,000 MW bi-directional, 320 kV HVDC merchant transmission line, that would connect converter stations located in Erie, Pennsylvania and Nanticoke, Ontario (Canada). A 345 kV Alternating Current (AC) underground transmission line would connect the Erie converter station to Penelec's existing Erie West substation, while a 500 kV AC line would tie the Nanticoke converter station to Hydro One’s Nanticoke substation.
ITC expects to secure all state, federal, and provincial permits for the project by mid-2017, in order to start construction in 2017. The line could be in service as early as the fourth quarter of 2020.