Central Maine Power Co. utility lines are seen on Oct. 6, 2021, in Pownal. Robert F. Bukaty/Associated Press
Central Maine Power Co. will bid to build a long-stalled northern Maine electric transmission line, helped with $425 million in federal backing, the utility and U.S. Department of Energy announced Thursday.
The 111-mile transmission line would bring 1,200 megawatts generated by wind turbines in northern Maine to New England’s grid. It’s one of four projects to be supported in the U.S. through a $1.5 billion federal program intended to improve grid reliability and resilience.
Avangrid Inc., CMP’s Connecticut-based parent company that will receive the Department of Energy funding, said it represents one of the largest ever federal spending programs on energy in Maine. The funding will be in the form of a “capacity contract,” a commitment to buy part of a transmission line’s energy capacity. It demonstrates a project’s commercial viability and reduces risk for ratepayers by reducing financial exposure, CMP said.
“Construction of this high-voltage line will also relieve transmission constraints that have stalled the development of renewable resources in northern Maine for years,” Avangrid said.
The state Public Utilities Commission terminated an agreement last December for a proposed transmission line along a similar route between the greater Augusta area and just south of Houlton. Regulators said the developer, LS Power Grid, withdrew its original fixed-price bid. LS Power countered that it submitted its proposal in March 2022, with the “reasonable expectation” of having an approved contract by Nov. 1, 2022, consistent with state law. LS Power said it held its price during a period of inflation, high interest rates and supply chain disruptions.
Maine has agreed to buy 60% of the energy generated and Massachusetts would purchase 40%.
The PUC in May initiated a process in advance of accepting bids for qualified transmission and generation projects; regulators have been seeking responses to a request for information and “indications of interest.” Comments were requested by June 21 but are not public. A PUC spokeswoman said Wednesday the agency does not have an “anticipated date” for issuing a request for proposal.
At the outset, the transmission line, at a cost of $1 billion, was touted for its goal of bringing clean energy generated by a proposed wind farm that would be the largest onshore wind project east of the Mississippi River. Rated at 1,000 megawatts and expected to produce nearly 3.2 billion kilowatt-hours a year, the project was said to generate enough electricity to power 450,000 typical homes. That’s more than half of Maine’s entire housing inventory.
The transmission line project generated opposition from residents, business owners and elected officials in some communities in northern and central Maine who insisted on changes to the transmission line’s location. Some residents said they first learned of the project in letters from LS Power about a power line strung along timberland and farmland and construction of large transmission towers.
Jonathan Breed, a spokesperson for CMP, said the utility does not intend to use eminent domain to build the transmission system.
The project has its supporters. The Natural Resources Council of Maine and other environmental groups told state regulators last October that transmission development is key to meeting Maine’s climate and clean energy requirements “and to doing so affordably.”
If Avangrid is ultimately the successful bidder, its parent company will be responsible for two transmission projects in Maine. It reported progress last summer on the New England Clean Energy Connect, a 145-mile electricity transmission line through western Maine that resumed work in October 2023.
The other three projects receiving federal energy funding from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law are a 400-mile high-voltage transmission line in Oklahoma; a 320-mile line connecting Texas to electric grids in southeastern U.S. power markets; and a 108-mile transmission line in New Mexico.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by PostX News and is published from a syndicated feed.)
