Thank you and good morning, Mr. Chair.
My name is Matt Pawlowski. I am vice-president of development at NextEra Energy Transmission. I am responsible for the development of the Lake Erie connector project.
NextEra invests in, builds out and operates clean power solutions in North America. In Canada, NextEra has majority ownership of a 450-kilometre electricity transmission project located between Wawa and Thunder Bay, Ontario. We also own and operate wind generation and energy storage facilities.
I would like to thank the committee for inviting me to speak about the Lake Erie connector project. NextEra is hard at work on this project, building on the efforts made by the previous owners and moving it forward.
By way of background, the Lake Erie connector is a proposed 117-kilometre underwater high-voltage direct-current transmission line linking the province of Ontario to the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. In July 2022, the original owners of the Lake Erie connector project suspended its development given the prevailing economic conditions. In January of this year, NextEra acquired the ownership interests in the project.
NextEra sees great value in the Lake Erie connector. This includes local economic opportunities and increased reliability and resiliency for the Ontario electricity grid through new access to the PJM market. As the new owner, we are actively engaged in discussions with Ontario’s Independent Electricity System Operator and first nations. NextEra’s efforts are supported by the Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation, as well as the Six Nations of the Grand River elected council.
Another important phase of Lake Erie connector’s development will be collaborative discussions with the Canada Infrastructure Bank. We view the CIB’s role as an important potential project investor and also as facilitating first nations' involvement in the project. However, let me be clear: The Lake Erie connector has not entered into any project financing agreements with the Canada Infrastructure Bank. It has not received any funding from the Canada Infrastructure Bank.
While we are happy to assist the committee in understanding the viability of the Lake Erie connector under NextEra’s ownership, we are not able to address matters that predate our involvement in the project.
I want to emphasize that NextEra stands ready to pursue the development of the Lake Erie connector. We are excited about the project. We view it as an innovative way to strengthen Ontario’s grid reliability and resiliency and to diversify Ontario’s access to power markets.
I look forward to your questions. Thank you very much.