FILE – Central Maine Power transmission lines stretch above the treetops in Pownal, Maine, on Oct. 6, 2021. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty, File)

A previously stalled wind power and transmission corridor project in Aroostook County received a major funding boost from the U.S. Department of Energy on Thursday, renewing hopes it will move forward.

The DOE  announced that it selected Avangrid, the parent company of Central Maine power, for a $425 million capacity contract for the Aroostook Renewable Gateway project. It is one of the largest federal investments in energy development in Maine, said Gov. Janet Mills.

A capacity contract is a commitment to buy some of the power a utility produces.   

“This unprecedented investment from the Biden-Harris Administration has the power to transform the energy future of northern Maine.” said Mills in a statement on Thursday.  “Investments like these bring us closer to the energy independence that can help stabilize costs for people and strengthen our economy.”

Maine Senate President Troy Jackson spearheaded 2021 renewable energy legislation for the Aroostook Renewable Gateway project that would for the first time link Aroostook County with the ISO New England grid that operates in Maine and five other states. 

The gateway is key in helping the state reach its 80 percent renewable energy goal by 2030. 

In 2021, the legislature tasked the PUC with soliciting bids for both power generation and transmission for the gateway project. 

New York-headquartered LS Power was awarded the transmission portion of the gateway project and Boston-based Longroad Energy’s King Pine Wind was selected to generate the power with County located wind turbines. It has been touted as the largest land-based wind project east of the Mississippi River.

Cost and transmission route issues plagued LS Power’s bid, despite efforts by the company to meet with the public in a series of information gathering sessions along the proposed route. In December 2023 the PUC killed their hopes of continuing the project. 

“We have been watching this whole thing and in the spring identified costs as being a problem,” said Jon Breed, spokesman for Central Maine Power. “We went and solicited this capacity contract from the DOE to lessen the burden on ratepayers for the cost of the transmission line.”

This May, the PUC put out a request for information regarding a new transmission utility for the project. At the same time they called for interested project developers and potential bidders to submit an Indication of Interest in the procurement, according to the PUCs Susan Faloon.

Breed said the DOE had been soliciting bids for capacity contracts as part of the bipartisan infrastructure bill that President Joe Biden passed.

Avangrid applied for the contract and the Aroostook Renewable Gateway is one of four projects awarded funds.

Breed said because there will be a number of bidders on the transmission portion of the gateway, a capacity contract gives Avangrid a competitive edge. The capacity contract is like a guaranteed seller, he said, comparing it to a developer that sells 25 condo units in a project that has not yet been started.  

While he said they cannot reveal the details of the bid they will submit when the PUC issues the Request For Proposals, they will say their route does not intend to use eminent domain which was a problem for Maine landowners with the LS Power project. 

“The two previous problems were costs and they ran into issues around the route,” Breed said.  “We did a lot of work looking at what we thought the issues were and we intend to put forward the most competitive bid we can.”
 

It’s important to remember there are going to be many bids and that this process hasn’t even kicked off yet and we may or may not be chosen, he added.

According to Faloon, the PUC does not have a timeline for the RFP request.

“The dream of having a line connecting northern Maine to an electric grid within the region is once again in sight,” said Jackson. “The good news is that CMP already owns a large portion of the land in which a line could be built and CMP has pledged not to use eminent domain.”