BELLOWS FALLS-National Grid and Great River Hydro (GRH) is making plans to upgrade the Vilas Bridge power substation in Bellows Falls, a project that is scheduled to be completed by the winter of 2030.
GRH, based in Westboro, Massachusetts, generates electricity in 13 hydropower plants it owns in Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Vermont, including the one in Bellows Falls. GRH also owns about 30,000 acres of land surrounding those dams and plants.
Distributing the energy from the Bellows Falls substation is National Grid, the major energy transmission company in the Northeast, whose project manager, Ian Grainger, explained that the upgrades are needed for the "safety and reliability," of the nearly 40-year-old facility.
The upgrades include replacing several components of the substation with state-of-the-art equipment, including circuit breakers, disconnects, transformers, and insulators. Some power line poles will also be replaced.
Grainger said that the project is intended to remain in the substation's current footprint, with the addition of a retaining wall on the east side of the property to address concerns about the stability of a built-up bank there.
He said that the project is being done with long-term reliability in mind, "so we don't have to come back anytime soon."
He said the company plans to complete the preliminary work to have all permits in hand by the fall of 2028. Construction is anticipated to start in the summer of 2029 and be completed in 2030.
Cultural impact, historical significance
Complicating the upgrade is the fact that the substation lies directly west and geographically above the Bellows Falls petroglyphs, a large collection of Native American rock carvings that date back at least 300 years and are likely much older.
The site is historically important and culturally significant to Native people, particularly Abenaki tribespeople, who still regularly perform ceremonies at the site.
Indicative of the cultural sensitivity of the site, at a meeting with local officials and other interested parties to discuss the project began with an Abenaki greeting song by Elnu Tribe Chief Roger Longtoe Sheehan, in honor of the area's importance as a spiritual center for the Abenaki.
Archaeological excavations in this region have been carbon-dated, verifying a Native American presence in this region going back at least 12,000 years.
The new retaining wall will be installed "for slope stabilization and improved yard access," according to GRH. Preparation for building the wall requires drilling test holes below the east side of the site, which is closest to the known petroglyphs. The test holes will study the stability and composition of the soils down to bedrock, which he estimated would be 15 to 20 feet down.
At the meeting, Grainger explained that the drilling will be "minimally invasive." Using tubular, 4-inch drills, workers will remove a core sample for soil study, he said, not unlike a large version of a carpenter's drywall hole saw. He made clear this is not impact drilling and that the task will take approximately one week.
He explained that the retaining wall will be constructed to hold the bank above an old dirt road that accesses old industrial mills, now mostly empty and unused, to the south of the substation. The road at one time ran from the train station south to the mills, and the long-abandoned railroad track is still visible on the road.
When asked if ground-penetrating radar might be a less-invasive option, Grainger explained that it doesn't reveal soil composition or go to the depth needed.
Elnu Abenaki spokesman Rich Holschuh told the group that "even being next to a traditional site will make an impact. You don't have to touch something to affect it."
Pointing down to the river and back to the substation, he said, "I guarantee that there are [Native] burial sites" along that line. "Have they been disturbed? Yes. Are they still there? Yes."
A GRH spokesman said that the "whole undertaking needs to address any impacts to cultural resources," noting that the "goal is to minimize any impacts."
GRH's parent company, Hydro-Québec, has a great deal of experience in dealing with First Nations people impacted by its hydropower projects.
The Canadian company settled a lawsuit out of court with the Innu Nation of Labrador in June of 2025 over the Churchill Falls Generating Station. The company and the Innu agreed to an $87 million (approximately $63 million U.S.) settlement over 16 years and 3% of the dividends from Churchill for as long as it provides power.
Holschuh noted that the Elnu's recent inclusion in this National Grid project comes on the heels of the "two-year National Park Service–funded NRHP [National Register of Historical Places] amendment of the Kchi Pôntegok petroglyphs that was just completed by a multi-member group including Native input for the first time."
He said the Elnu were optimistic and that he felt the project was "bringing fresh and deeper insights into consideration of this Place, perhaps for the first time in this sort of industrial/energy setting, and I trust that it will be a meaningful undertaking and lead toward greater acknowledgement and accountability."
Noting that it was still very early in a project that will take several years to complete, Holschuh said, "We are cognizant that National Grid's openness as a utility to this exchange and learning opportunity is unusual and long overdue, and the fact that it is discretionary on their part is even more significant."
He said the members of the Elnu band "trust that the outcomes will be equally noteworthy and that the process of cross-cultural learning will have lasting impact."
A popular destination
The area around the substation also has a more recent historical significance to the village. At the meeting, local archaeologist Gail Golec said that researching the site yielded early photographs of the substation site.
Those photos, from the mid-1800s, show that the area was used as garden space, croquet courts, and pavilions for the Island House Resort located at one time across the street. Built in 1849, the Island House was one of the most popular hotels in the Connecticut River Valley.
Before the Civil War, it was a popular destination for wealthy Southerners escaping the summer heat. It included an entertainment hall, bowling alleys, and extensive gardens. President Ulysses S. Grant and General W.T. Sherman were among the notable guests.
The resort closed in 1887, was used for storage after that, and burned down in 1907.
Green energy questions
New England gets more of its power from what are considered renewable resources than any other part of the country. That is mainly due to the approximately 200 hydro-electric generating plants in the region. Hydropower is also imported from Canada and accounts for about a quarter of energy use in New England.
GRH bought its dams from TransCanada in 2017. In 2023, Hydro-Québec - which is owned by Quebec's provincial government and has been selling power to New England since the 1980s - bought GRH for $2 billion, transferring ownership back to Canada.
Hydro-Québec is the largest producer of electricity in Canada. GRH comprises the largest hydropower producer in New England, generating 539 megawatts.
There is some debate about hydropower being considered renewable - or, more specifically, green energy - due to its environmental impact. Dams affect water temperature, water flow, fish migration, and aquatic life, including nesting and reproduction, and they create sediment deposits that impact the environment. Dams also create reservoirs that flood lands, displacing flora, fauna, and people.
In its favor, hydro power greatly reduces greenhouse gas pollution produced by plants that generate energy by burning fossil fuels like coal, oil, and gas.
Efforts to mitigate environmental impacts are ongoing. The hydro facility at Bellows Falls, in its recent Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) license renewal process, moved from operating the dam with a fluctuating, peak flow process to what is called run-of-the-river. This more-natural model is intended to release water much in the way an undammed river flows in order to minimize the dam's environmental impact.
Grainger said that in the permitting process that National Grid will submit a full Section 248 filing in Vermont, which requires that companies undertaking projects like this one obtain a Certificate of Public Good from the Vermont Public Utility Commission.
That filing includes a comprehensive review of the project's social, environmental, and economic impacts.
This News item by Robert F. Smith was written for The Commons.