MIT Professor: Natural Gas Prices Not Likely To Make Hydro-Quebec Reconsider Northern Pass

The extremely low prices for natural gas – which can be used to generate electricity - have some  opponents  of Northern Pass wondering whether Hydro-Quebec  might reconsider the project. But a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology says that’s unlikely.

“The current situation in the natural-gas  market  is not one I would think makes any difference in terms of the economic value of the project,” said Henry Jacoby, a professor at the MIT Sloan School of Management.

Jacoby said he looked at the assumptions Hydro-Quebec made for natural-gas pricing as the project moves forward and they aren’t  far from what he expects.

“I think it is important not to be fooled by the current  circumstances,” he said.

Recently The Boston Globe reported the possibility of a new natural-gas pipeline coming into New England. The Globe identified the company as Spectra Energy.

In an e-mail Professor Jacoby said such a pipeline would not “substantially damage the economics of  additional power from Quebec.”