Regulators approved more than $1 billion in state-directed power contracts on Wednesday, but not without expressing their doubts about whether some benefits of the clean, cheap electricity would accrue to Connecticut.

The state Public Utilities Regulatory Authority, in approving plans for a 20-megawatt solar farm inSprague and a 250-megawatt wind farm in northern Maine, said that the Maine power will be distributed locally, rather than delivered to southern New England.

And environmentally, the regulators said, the clean wind power will benefit the Atlantic Ocean and Maine more than Connecticut ratepayers, who are paying for the power.

"The environmental effects … will primarily accrue to the citizens of sparsely populated Aroostook County, certain parts of Canada's Maritime Provinces, and the Atlantic Ocean," regulators said in their decision to approve the contracts.


On the electricity from Maine, regulators said, "Because of transmission limitations, it appears that the electricity generated by this project will remain exclusively or largely in Maine and not be delivered to Connecticut or elsewhere outside of Maine."

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