Biden-Harris Admin Awards $495M Taxpayer Grant to Foreign-Owned Energy Project in Maine

Thanks to the taxpayer-funded grant, Maine's much more likely to play host to a massive wind farm and a high-power transmission line that will primarily benefit foreign investors from Qatar, Germany, and New Zealand.

Libby Palanza
October 7, 2024

When LS Power withdrew its proposal to build a controversial high-power transmission line across Maine this summer, the news created uncertainty for the future of the foreign-owned wind turbine project and the transmission line was supposed to connect to New England’s grid.

The proposed wind farm, set to be developed by Longroad Energy — a company that is 92 percent controlled by investors from outside the United States — was given new hope Monday when the Biden-Harris administration delivered a taxpayer-funded grant worth $425 million to support the construction of the transmission line by a separate foreign-owned company.

According to a press release from the Biden-Harris Administration, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has awarded Avangrid a $425 million capacity contract to help advance the so-called “Aroostook Renewable Project,” a proposed “clean energy transmission line project” in northern Maine.

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That transmission line is key to making Longroad Energy’s “King Pine Wind” project viable, as without the transmission line, power from the yet-to-be-constructed wind turbines wouldn’t be able to reach New England’s grid.

Avangrid — the parent company of Central Maine Power (CMP) — is majority owned by Iberdrola, a Spain-based company whose largest investors include the Qatar-owned wealth fund BlackRock, Inc. and the Norwegian Government Pension Fund.

Longroad Energy is a Boston-based company comprised of former executives from First Wind. The group’s new venture, however, is backed 92 percent by non-U.S. entities, including the New Zealand government pension fund, the New Zealand-based Infratil, and the German asset manager MEAG.

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Comment by Dan McKay on October 8, 2024 at 5:32am

It comes down to what the Maine PUC commissioners are made of. One of the three commissioners has already removed herself from being involved with this project as she worked for a shill outfit that always lies about the non-existent benefits of wind power. This same commish gladly participates in the Net Energy Billing scheme.

Will the remaining two commissioners allow a corrupted bidding process that has the big thumb  of the federal government interfering with a competitive bid, a competitive bid that the PUC outlined in the original RFP or will they quiver and allow the Biden administration to overthrow their work and duties to the people.

The PUC has yet to move to offer another RFP. The whole damn process so far has been hidden from the very people who will pay for this project, the Maine ratepayers. Grow some balls, Bartlett and Scully, and toss this mess into the " never to be" bin or are you also corrupted?

 

Maine as Third World Country:

CMP Transmission Rate Skyrockets 19.6% Due to Wind Power

 

Click here to read how the Maine ratepayer has been sold down the river by the Angus King cabal.

Maine Center For Public Interest Reporting – Three Part Series: A CRITICAL LOOK AT MAINE’S WIND ACT

******** IF LINKS BELOW DON'T WORK, GOOGLE THEM*********

(excerpts) From Part 1 – On Maine’s Wind Law “Once the committee passed the wind energy bill on to the full House and Senate, lawmakers there didn’t even debate it. They passed it unanimously and with no discussion. House Majority Leader Hannah Pingree, a Democrat from North Haven, says legislators probably didn’t know how many turbines would be constructed in Maine if the law’s goals were met." . – Maine Center for Public Interest Reporting, August 2010 https://www.pinetreewatchdog.org/wind-power-bandwagon-hits-bumps-in-the-road-3/From Part 2 – On Wind and Oil Yet using wind energy doesn’t lower dependence on imported foreign oil. That’s because the majority of imported oil in Maine is used for heating and transportation. And switching our dependence from foreign oil to Maine-produced electricity isn’t likely to happen very soon, says Bartlett. “Right now, people can’t switch to electric cars and heating – if they did, we’d be in trouble.” So was one of the fundamental premises of the task force false, or at least misleading?" https://www.pinetreewatchdog.org/wind-swept-task-force-set-the-rules/From Part 3 – On Wind-Required New Transmission Lines Finally, the building of enormous, high-voltage transmission lines that the regional electricity system operator says are required to move substantial amounts of wind power to markets south of Maine was never even discussed by the task force – an omission that Mills said will come to haunt the state.“If you try to put 2,500 or 3,000 megawatts in northern or eastern Maine – oh, my god, try to build the transmission!” said Mills. “It’s not just the towers, it’s the lines – that’s when I begin to think that the goal is a little farfetched.” https://www.pinetreewatchdog.org/flaws-in-bill-like-skating-with-dull-skates/

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Hannah Pingree on the Maine expedited wind law

Hannah Pingree - Director of Maine's Office of Innovation and the Future

"Once the committee passed the wind energy bill on to the full House and Senate, lawmakers there didn’t even debate it. They passed it unanimously and with no discussion. House Majority Leader Hannah Pingree, a Democrat from North Haven, says legislators probably didn’t know how many turbines would be constructed in Maine."

https://pinetreewatch.org/wind-power-bandwagon-hits-bumps-in-the-road-3/

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