Champlain Hudson Power Express Announces Financial Close

New York – November 1, 2022 – Today, Champlain Hudson Power Express (CHPE) announced it has closed on the financing required to begin construction on the approximately 339-mile fully-buried transmission line that will deliver 1,250 megawatts of clean and renewable hydropower from Québec to New York City. The overall project cost is approximately $6 billion. The lead financial advisor on the deal was Societe Generale supported by Coordinating Lead Arrangers Societe Generale, MUFG, Mizuho and CIBC. Kirkland and Ellis LLP served as counsel for the Blackstone/CHPE team while Norton Rose Fulbright represented lenders. Marsh served as insurance broker and risk advisor to CHPE.

Financial close is the last step before the transformative project can begin construction this fall and also begin delivering significant project benefits throughout New York State by distributing funds to community partners, initiatives and municipalities, including:

• The Hudson River and Lake Champlain Habitat Enhancement, Restoration, and Research/Habitat Improvement Trust Fund: CHPE has allocated more than $117 million in funding for environmental projects that will help protect and enhance the Hudson, Harlem and East Rivers as well as Lake Champlain. The trust is overseen by the Hudson River Foundation and $15 million in funding will be available during construction for projects that improve and enhance the aquatic environments in Lake Champlain, the Hudson River, the Bronx, Harlem and East Rivers, and New York Harbor. The additional funds will be distributed over the course of 35 years.
• Green Economy Fund (GEF): CHPE has created a $40 million green jobs training fund designed to support residents living in disadvantaged and frontline communities by providing them with new job training opportunities that will help them take advantage of New York’s transition to a green economy with $2.5 million now available to initiate the Fund.
• The Rockland County Host Communities’ Benefits Package: ln recognition of the localized impacts to Rockland County during construction, CHPE has established a Haverstraw Bay Community Benefit Fund in the amount of $33 million to support capital projects within the Rockland Host Communities (the Towns of Stony Point, Haverstraw and Clarkstown, and the Villages of Haverstraw and West Haverstraw).
• Community Engagement Fund: CHPE’s financial close also allows for the continued funding of projects within the scope of the $9 million Community Engagement Fund. This additional fund has been set up to support important projects and community initiatives along the transmission line route from the North Country to Queens, including support for the construction of a new Nature Center on Randall’s Island, New York City as well as a new climate-focused STEM lab at the Variety Boys & Girls Club in Astoria, Queens.

“The project financing announced today is an important step toward starting construction and beginning to realize the tremendous economic and environmental benefits this project will provide to residents, organizations and municipalities throughout the state,” said TDI-USA Holdings LLC (CHPE’s parent) CEO Donald Jessome. “We look forward to watching our community partners move forward with vital projects that will improve the communities they live and work in, and to soon begin delivering clean, renewable energy to New York City.”

“We are excited to complete this important step and begin construction in the coming months,” said Blackstone Senior Managing Director Bilal Khan. “Soon, CHPE will create new clean energy jobs and help support the transition to a greener future by bringing clean and renewable power to New York City.”

“The CHPE transmission line will be buried through Washington County providing a major economic boost to our small agricultural county,” said Dave O’Brien, Chair of the Washington and Warren Counties Industrial Development Agency (WWIDA). “From construction-related activities in the purchase of materials, use of local vendors and construction companies, and feeding and housing of workers to the host benefit packages and economic payments to small towns, school districts and counties in the amount of 279 million over 30 years – CHPE will have a huge impact on the health, welfare, and benefit of our residents. As a result of the CHPE project, WWIDA and Washington County will be able to make huge improvements in our infrastructure.”

 “Congratulations to our friends at CHPE for closing on their financing,” said Costa Constantinides, CEO of the Variety Boys & Girls Club of Queens. “This brings us closer to making NYC a safer place to breathe for all New Yorkers and means that we will soon be receiving CHPE’s generous gift for the redevelopment of the Variety Boys and Girls Club. CHPE is already making our community a better place to live, and we can’t wait to see the project up and running very soon.”

“Congratulations to the Champlain Hudson Power Express on beginning construction soon,” said Randall’s Island Park Alliance President Deborah Maher. “This transmission line will bring new energy to New York City, and their gift to us will energize Randall’s Island with a new Nature Center for our young visitors. We look forward to our continued partnership.”

 Last month, CHPE announced contracts with three companies to oversee major construction operations. CHPE selected NKT, Kiewit Power Constructors Co. (Kiewit), and Hitachi Energy to undertake various components of the construction and cable installation processes. The full operational date for the project is anticipated to be Spring of 2026.

Once CHPE begins to deliver its 1,250 megawatts of clean energy – enough to power over one million New York homes – New Yorkers will start to benefit from direct positive health impacts related to reducing fossil fuel generation and harmful pollutants. This reduction in pollutants will result in cleaner air, particularly in disadvantaged communities adjacent to New York City’s fossil-fuel peaker plants.

About the Champlain Hudson Power Express

CHPE involves the construction of an underground and underwater transmission line spanning approximately 339 miles between the Canada–U.S. border and New York City.

CHPE will also provide competitively priced clean power, sourced from Hydro-Québec, that is expected to lower electricity generation costs throughout the state by $17 billion over the first 25 years of operation, all while providing increased reliability and resiliency for the downstate grid. The project also provides a total of $3.5 billion in economic benefits to New Yorkers and creates approximately 1,400 family-sustaining jobs during construction, with a commitment to use union labor. CHPE will provide an economic boost to 73 municipalities and 59 school districts throughout New York State with an increase in incremental tax revenue of $1.4 billion in funding for local communities over the first 25 years of the project.