Maine ratepayers to pay $1B for Aroostook wind power line

6 hours ago Bangor Daily News

A state regulator on Tuesday said Maine ratepayers would foot the bill for 60 percent of a massive new Aroostook County wind power line that will link the region to the New England electric grid.

The share for Maine ratepayers would be $1 billion, or $1 per month for the average consumer over the first 10 years of the contract. Massachusetts in December said it would pay a portion over 20 years by procuring 40 percent of the project’s generation and transmission.

The Maine Public Utilities Commission had to determine by law that the project and costs are in the public interest, and the three commissioners agreed that they are on Tuesday.





The Legislature still needs to approve the project, a condition required by the 2021 referendum for projects with high-voltage transmission lines. Both projects also must win permits from the commission and other state and federal agencies, including land-use permits from the Department of Environmental Protection.

The project is the biggest part of the new Northern Maine Renewable Energy Development Program, which passed as part of a 2021 state law aimed at bringing clean power and jobs to Aroostook. In October, LS Power Base of New York won the transmission portion of the bid and Longroad Energy’s King Pine Wind of Massachusetts won the power generation bid.

With the $1 billion Central Maine Power Co. hydropower corridor stalled and in legal jeopardy, the Massachusetts energy regulators who hold the keys to the project are preparing alternatives to meet their own energy goals, including the Aroostook project, in the event of its potential defeat.

The progress on this project will help alleviate long-standing challenges, said Maine Senate President Troy Jackson, D-Allagash, who sponsored the measure leading to the project. 

Renewable energy projects in Aroostook County have faced significant economic challenges due to the lack of connection to the New England power grid. Energy generated in northern Maine must go through the Canadian power grid in New Brunswick to be sold to consumers through the American power grid. 

“Maine is in the midst of an energy crisis and the key to meaningful energy relief is in our own backyard,” Jackson said.

The Aroostook project would carry output from a 1,000-megawatt wind power facility. The cost of the transmission line is about $2.8 billion, although the wind power project is expected to provide a savings of $1.08 billion. That would bring the project’s net cost to $1.8 billion over 20 years.

Commission Chair Phil Bartlett said he hopes the two bid winners will find other parties to contribute to the project and alleviate the burden on Maine ratepayers. The funding should come through the state budget or a bond instead of by raising electricity rates, Commissioner Patrick Scully suggested.

“We should not bury these costs in electricity rates that disproportionately impact the elderly and our low income and moderate income citizens,” he said.

The Natural Resources Council of Maine, an environmental group that fought the CMP corridor, was quick to applaud the commission’s decision, saying it is an economic boost to local communities and a win for New England electricity consumers.

“These are exactly the types of Maine-based clean energy projects we’ll need to stabilize energy prices by reducing the region’s dependence on fossil fuels,” said Jack Shapiro, NRCM’s climate and clean energy director.

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Comment by Dan McKay on January 31, 2023 at 5:52pm

This report is full of intentional omissions and vague claims and Biden Speak

What is an average consumer? Did you consider the average and non-average consumer buy products that rely on electricity to produce, transport and provide for sale at the stores? OMISSIONS

What happens after the first 10 years of the project or could happen after the first 10 years of the project? OMISSION

How did the Commision determine raising electricity costs are in the public interest? OMISISION of JOURNALISM

As well as legislative and DEP approval, this project must receive

    1.Approvals required by ISO-NE

    2.  Approvals required by the FERC

    3. . Commission jurisdictional approvals including certificates of public convenience and necessity (CPCN);

    4. Other siting or environmental approvals including Land Use Planning Commission (LUPC), Army Corp of Engineers (ACOE), other local or municipal permits or approvals

OMISSIONS GALORE

How does the wind project provide $1.08 Billion in savings? OMISSION of JOURNALISM

Why is Bartlett calling this a project in the public interest in one statement, then says he hopes the two bid winners will find other parties to contribute to the project and alleviate the burden on Maine ratepayers. WHAT A BUFFON

So the low income and elderly are not impacted by state budgets or bonds WTH does that mean to the rest of us who support the elderly and low income? WHAT A BUFFON

The PUC WILL BE GETTING QUESTIONS FROM ME AND I WILL BE HAPPY TO SHARE THEIR ANSWERS ON THE " CITIZENS TASK FORCE ON WIND POWER-MAINE

 

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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