Maine approves 1GW onshore wind farm and transmission line

The transmission line would run electricity from near the wind farm to the rest of New England, via the ISO-NE grid. It would have the capacity to carry 1.2GW of power.

The $2 billion onshore wind farm will be the largest east of the Mississippi.

Populous Massachusetts, to the south, will partner in 40% of the transmission project and the estimated net-cost to Maine ratepayers would be about $1 billion – or about a dollar per month for an average residential customer – according to Maine regulators.

The two large projects are in the public interest, Maine’s Public Utilities Commission (PUC) ruled.

“These projects will provide significant benefits to Maine and the region, including jobs during construction, property tax revenue for local communities, and environmental benefits from new renewable energy displacing fossil fuels,” said PUC chair Philip Bartlett.

The influx of renewable energy into the regional grid will also help to reduce electricity prices and will benefit consumers in Maine and throughout New England, the PUC stated. It estimated that the projects will save Maine residents $1.08 billion over 20 years.

Last autumn, Maine selected the King Pine project in a tender and provisionally allowed it to sell power to public utilities. Maine utilities will buy 60% of the output from the planned wind farm. The utilities would be Central Maine Power and/or Versant Power.

Both projects have the support of the state governor.

Dan Burgess, head of the state governor’s energy office, said: “With Maine households and businesses facing high energy costs due to New England’s overreliance on expensive, imported natural gas to generate our electricity, these projects are poised to deliver new renewable energy to the region that will reduce our dependence on volatile fossil fuels and deliver significant new job and economic opportunities to communities in northern Maine.”