Avangrid is confident that its 1.2GW New England Clean Energy Connect (NECEC) transmission project will walk away the belated victor in Massachusetts’ 83D clean-energy tender, having been confirmed as the back-up winner after Eversource’s Northern Pass ran afoul of siting officials.

“We think [NECEC] will be happening,” Avangrid chief executive James Torgerson said Tuesday on a conference call with analysts.