Lake Champlain hydropower cable install enters final phase

Cable-laying barge moves south of Westport on its way to Putnam Station exit from lake

By Zachary Matson

The installation of a transmission cable slated to send Canadian hydropower to New York City at the bottom of Lake Champlain is entering its final stage and is expected to be completed this fall, according to a spokesperson for the project developer.

The Champlain Hudson Power Express line is a sprawling project to construct a 339-mile-long power line connecting Quebec’s vast water reservoirs to power-hungry New York City. The transmission line crosses the U.S.—Canadian border at Rouses Point and follows the lake south to Putnam Station, where it exists the lake and starts its underground path through Washington County, the Capital Region and southward in the Hudson Valley. The line enters the Hudson River south of Catskill and follows another underwater path toward the city, joining New York electricity grid at a power station in Queens.

A massive cable-laying barge and a platoon of support vessels have made their way southward in the lake, working last summer and starting a second season of in-lake work this summer. Lake construction is slated to be completed this fall, according to a statement from the project spokesperson.

“The final stage of work on the Champlain Hudson Power Express has begun on Lake Champlain,” according to the statement. “The CHPE construction barge is currently moving south of Westport on the final phase of cable installation in the lake. Work on the lake will be completed this fall.” 

Westport Supervisor Ike Tyler said the operation was stationed in the lake near Westport for about a week before moving south, an impressive site running 24 hours a day. “It was a like a city out there,” he said of the boats lit up at night.

Photo at top: A special cable-laying barge was built at Wilcox marina in Plattsburgh to install nearly 97 miles of electrical cable in Lake Champlain last May. Explorer file photo by Melissa Hart