Maine plans major energy storage buildout
Maine Public | By Peter McGuire
Published July 21, 2026 at 4:30 PM EDT
The Maine Department of Energy Resources is seeking regulators' approval for a major buildout of energy storage on the state's electric grid.
The department filed a petition with the Maine Public Utilities Commission this week to start competitive bidding to develop up to 360 megawatts of large-scale batteries.
Acting energy commissioner Celina Cunningham said that batteries can store electricity when demand is low, then deliver it to the grid at periods of high need.
"That reduces stress on the grid and can help avoid some of those costs associated with building additional generation and transmission infrastructure," Cunningham said in an interview.
A total 360 megawatt buildout could provide enough power for 15% of Maine's total electric load, according to the department.
Battery projects are not required to be connected to a renewable generator such as wind or solar, Cunningham said. But projects will have to lower costs for electric customers, who ultimately pay for the developments through their power bills, according to the department.
Maine has a goal of adding 400 megawatts of energy storage by 203
Continue reading at https://www.mainepublic.org/climate/2026-07-21/maine-plans-major-en...
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Comment
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Comment by Dan McKay on July 23, 2026 at 5:57am
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More electricity price increases from this proposal. If all the money spent on battery storage went to expanding natural gas pipelines, electricity as well as heating costs would go down and batteries would be far too expensive and nonsensical to operate on the grid.
But DOER wants Maine people to subsidize batteries which means ratepayers would be paying for charging and paying for discharging, a double whammy.
DOER is expecting a weak PUC to move this nutty idea forward as they usually do with long term contracts thus adding to the $65,996,299.00 and growing charges already in place for the eradication of carbon dioxide, a key naturally occurring element currently being splewed into the atmosphere by the billions of tons from Canadian wildfires.
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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