MCK, Hertel-New York Ownership Agreement Signed

The Mohawk Council of Kahnawà:ke and Hydro-Québec formalized an historic joint ownership agreement when they signed the Hertel-New York Interconnection Transmission Line (“Hertel Line”) agreement today. The ceremony was held on the Mohawk Territory of Kahnawà:ke. Ohén:ton Í:iente ne Ratitsénhaienhs Kahsennenhawe Sky-Deer on the benefits for Kahnawakero:non:

“Like any other ‘own-source’ revenue that we generate for the community it gets deployed into services into the community. Obviously, areas where we don’t receive funding from either government, language and culture, sports, infrastructure, we have a lot of buildings in our community that are dilapidated, housing needs, there are just so many needs in our community, so it will just be a matter of the council of the day, this is an agreement that will last 40 years, and what will be the issues at the time that needs attention to, so I’m sure it will be deployed where it’s necessary.”

Upon commissioning in 2026, the Hertel Line will be a 58 km, 400 kV underground transmission line that will run from the Hertel substation in La Prairie to the Richelieu River, where it will cross into New York State. The Hertel Line will carry 1,250 MW of renewable electricity to New York City, enough to power 1 million homes.

Hydro-Québec Chief Executive Officer Michael Sabia on the challenges of energy:

“To celebrate the signing of an historic and innovative agreement, I want to put emphasis on that last word: innovation. Because, when I look to the future, one thing is crystal clear, that is the immense challenge of the energy transition and that challenge is only going to be met with creativity and with open mind and that is essentially what has inspired the agreement that we are recognizing and celebrating today. That spirit of innovation is important here and it is going to be important as we address the magnitude of the challenge we face on the climate transition.”

Québec Minister responsible for Relations with the First Nations and the Inuit, Ian Lafrenière, officially designate the Mohawk Council of Kahnawà:ke and Hydro-Québec as co-owners of the Hertel Line, once in-service, via the Horizon Kahnawà:ke Hydro-Québec Limited Partnership:

“This is just a wonderful announcement and I’m happy to be here on behalf of the government of Quebec, because the Hertel New York agreement signed today by The Mohawk Council of Kahnawà:ke with Hydro-Quebec is simply historic. This is historic today. Co-ownership of transport assets such as this one between a First Nations in Quebec and Hydro-Quebec is a first.”

As part of the project agreements, Hydro-Québec is pledging a $10M donation to the new Kahnawà:ke Cultural Arts Center, to become the leading donor on the project.