Everything is Secret Until the Maine PUC and ISO-NE Says It Isn't.

by Dan McKay

8 hours ago

The Northern Maine Renewable Energy Development Program( Aroostook County Wind Project) is deemed a public policy project. Below, in the final paragraph, is how the 2 billion dollar plus costs of the project developed by ISO-NE will be allocated among the New England States. 

Of course, there are additional costs with the generation power purchase agreement which includes a generator lead line to attach to the ISO-NE proposed project. The ISO-NE proposed project has an estimated September 2026 decicion date of approval/rejection by ISO-NE.

The generation and connecting line(s) approval/rejection are under Maine PUC jurisdiction and due very soon, well before the ISO-NE proposal decision is made. 

We must await PUC determination to find out where these generation/connecting lines are proposed to be, as well as the costs to Maine ratepayers. 

We must await ISO-NE decision on the $2 billion dollar plus project required to connect Aroostook County Wind to the ISO-NE network for who will have ownership of these transmission upgrades that will become assets with associated rates of returns on capital improvements. 

The thing of certainty is that Maine ratepayers will pay a huge amount of money forever to accomodate politicians' wishes. Namely, Troy Jackson and Philip Bartlett.

Allocating Transmission Costs  ISO-NE

  • For public policy projects, a different cost allocation is used:
    • 70% of the costs of upgrades are spread throughout the region on a load-ratio basis
    • 30% of the costs are allocated on a load-ratio basis among states with public policies driving the need for the project