Eversource Energy has added about $2 billion to their rolling five-year capital investments plan, with electric transmission and distribution projects in line to receive an additional $923 million and $601 million, respectively, compared to forecasts of a year ago.

Senior management of the company outlined their new plan, which projects a total of $24.2 billion in spending between now and the end of 2029. Excluding Eversource’s natural gas business, the plan envisions about $6.8 billion in transmission work and $10.3 billion for distribution projects, with spending in both categories peaking in 2026. A year ago, and in framing their 2024-28 window, executives’ forecasts expected those figures to be $5.8 billion and $9.7 billion, respectively.

The focus will be on growth opportunities both in replacing aging infrastructure to make the grid more resilient, as well as building new substations and other infrastructure needs to address increasing load demand. Eversource sees opportunities to increase the company’s investments through 2029 by another $1.5 billion to $2 billion if various projects and funding programmes generate additional growth. As things stand, the $24.2 billion plan translates into an annual rate base growth rate of 8 per cent.

Even though other projects are being developed later this decade, Eversource’s transmission capex forecast through 2029, state-wise, is below:

  • Massachusetts: $3.6 billion, which is backloaded by a combined $1.7 billion slated for 2028 and 2029. The state’s approval of the Electric Sector Modernization Plan in the summer of 2024 has allowed Eversource to dedicate more capital there.
  • Connecticut: About $1.8 billion that trails off in the later years of the plan.
  • New Hampshire: Nearly $1.4 billion, including $530 million slated for 2028 and 2029.

Two Massachusetts projects – the Greater Cambridge Energy Program and the recent purchase of 26 acres from Constellation Energy, were highlighted. The Cambridge project is a 35,000-square-foot substation that will be located 105 feet below a new park and will be the first fully underground facility of its kind in the country. Eversource is partnering with Boston Properties and local officials on this $1.8 billion project.

The former Constellation property is part of the retired Mystic Generating Station in Everett, just north of downtown Boston and adjacent to an existing Eversource substation. Eversource’s planning group is considering possible development opportunities at the site and would upgrade the nearby substation in the future.