CLEVELAND — Two Canadian companies want to spend $300 million to run power lines below Lake Erie, connecting major Canadian and U.S. power grids by 2004.

        Partners TransEnergie U.S. Ltd. and Hydro One Delivery Services Inc. have jointly filed for a permit with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to install lines that would link Ontario with Ohio and Pennsylvania. The project is called Lake Erie Link.

        They have talked to custom ers in both countries about buying access to the line, including Akron-based FirstEnergy and Minneapolis-based NRG Energy. NRG is buying four of FirstEnergy's coal-fired power plants.

        The project will proceed if the companies can get enough customers.

        The plans call for up to three 325-megawatt lines from Nanticoke, Ontario, two to Erie, Pa., and one to Ashtabula, Ohio.

        Erie is 70 miles from Nanticoke; Ashtabula is 90 miles away.

        The two-way lines make sense because power demands peak in Ohio and Pennsylvania in the summer while Ontario demands peak in the winter, said Michael Ernst, TransEnergie spokesman.

        The armored cables would be buried 6 to 8 feet below the lake bed and cannot disturb sunken ships.

        TransEnergie wants to dig the lines 50 to 60 feet apart.

        A high-pressure water system would drop the lines into trenches, and sediment would settle and close the trench.

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