LS Power Opinion: Aroostook Renewable Gateway benefits Maine in many ways.

December 7, 2023

BY DOUG MULVEY

SPECIAL TO THE PRESS HERALD

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Doug Mulvey is a vice president with Missouri-based LS Power Development. He has more than 27 years of project development experience across the U.S. He holds a bachelor’s degree in Civil Engineering and master’s degree in environmental engineering from University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. He also holds a master’s in business administration from the University of Phoenix.

EXCERPTS

..........Our core objective is to develop a transmission project that delivers Maine-made renewable energy, powering Maine’s future electricity needs, with as minimal environmental impact as possible and with maximum economic and societal benefits for Maine residents. We can achieve these critically important goals by carefully managing costs and schedule, considering community impacts, and being mindful of the environment while creating economic benefits and balancing effects on ratepayers. If an underground HVDC project that avoids private property and eliminates the need to negotiate with individual landowners fulfilled these core objectives, we’d be more than happy to consider it.

Unfortunately, that’s not the case.

We know this because LS Power has vast experience dealing with the costs, risks and supply chain challenges of underground HVDC projects, thanks to our work developing such projects on both the east and west coasts. This experience shows that developing underground HVDC would be over five times more expensive to Maine ratepayers and likely have a greater environmental impact because of the need to dig a continuous trench through aquifers, wetlands and sensitive environmental habitats. By comparison, overhead lines provide the ability to strategically locate intermittent structures to minimize environmental and community impacts.

It’s important to acknowledge that an overhead transmission corridor will not be devoid of vegetation. The cleared forest area will be replaced with compatible plantings that will not interfere with our safe and reliable operation of the transmission line. This ensures that carbon dioxide removal by vegetation in the corridor continues. Some may argue that the CO2 impact of tree removal is significant, but it’s important to weigh this against the immense environmental benefits the project offers. The Gateway enables the King Pine Wind project, which will achieve approximately 1.3 million tons of CO2 avoidance per year – roughly the equivalent of removing 260,000 passenger vehicles annually – making it a powerful contributor to Maine’s clean energy goals...............................

.....................Additionally, several local environmental non-governmental organizations have reviewed information about the proposed routes and potential environmental impacts. They support the MPUC in finalizing a contract for the project. This collaborative support reflects an acknowledgment of the valuable benefits our proposed solution offers and underscores the project’s alignment with achieving the state’s climate goals.......................................