LS Power, Longroad Energy win contracts for Maine transmission line, 1,000-MW King Pine wind farm

Dive Brief:

The Maine Public Utilities Commission on Wednesday approved contracts with LS Power for a $2.9 billion power line and with Longroad Energy for a roughly $2 billion, 1,000-MW wind farm in northern Maine.
The PUC directed its staff to work with the companies, Massachusetts officials and those in other states to see if they want to join the endeavor.
“We hope this can serve as an example of how our region can collaborate and move forward with well-planned transmission and clean energy investments that will deliver indisputable climate benefits,” said Jack Shapiro, climate and clean energy director for the Natural Resources Council of Maine, a group that opposes Avangrid’s stalled New England Clean Energy Connect transmission line, which aims to deliver hydropower from Canada to Massachusetts.

Dive Insight:

Under state law LD 1710, the PUC in November launched a two-prong solicitation for renewable energy projects in Aroostook County in northern Maine and for a double-circuit, 345-kV transmission line to deliver power from the project to the ISO New England grid.

The LS Power transmission proposal and Longroad’s King Pine wind project were “significantly” less expensive than any other combination of bids the PUC received and will benefit Maine and the region, according to Philip Bartlett II, commission chair.

Longroad estimates its wind farm will reduce electricity costs in Maine by more than $100 million over 20 years, according to a Sept. 13 presentation to Aroostook County commissioners. The project represents the “largest opportunity” for onshore wind in New England, according to the Boston-based company.

PUC staff members estimated the projects would cost $1.8 billion over 30 years when including the savings they would create through lower electricity prices.

The King Pine project is on about 175,000 acres in Aroostook County, which is outside ISO-NE. The power it generates would be delivered to the New England grid via LS Power’s proposed power line.

The LS Power project includes more than 100 miles of transmission line and multiple substations, according to the company.

The projects could support Massachusetts’ often-thwarted efforts to increase its supplies of emissions-free electricity. After New Hampshire regulators in 2018 rejected Eversource’s Northern Pass transmission line proposal to bring electricity into New England from Hydro-Québec, Massachusetts turned to Avandgrid’s NECEC transmission proposal in Maine.

That roughly $1.4 billion project has been delayed by litigation, and a judge on Oct. 21 rejected Avangrid’s request that construction on the power line be allowed to restart.

A bill signed into law in August gives the Massachusetts energy department the authority to consider joining other states in clean energy procurements.

The state has until Dec. 31 to determine whether the LS Power and Longroad projects could help meet its clean energy needs, Bartlett said at the PUC meeting Wednesday. The agency ordered its staff to file a report by Jan. 15 explaining the potential for regional partnerships and the status of talks with the Massachusetts Department of Energy Resources and the Massachusetts attorney general’s office.

The PUC decided to wait for those talks to finish before determining whether the LS Power and Longroad projects are in the public interest.

The pause will give the companies time to see if Massachusetts or other New England states are interested in buying power from the King Pine wind farm, PUC Commissioner Patrick Scully said. The companies may also be able to tap into federal funding for their projects, he said.

The projects could help reduce New England’s reliance on natural gas-fired power plants, according to the NRCM’s Shapiro.

“We hope this can serve as an example of how our region can collaborate and move forward with well-planned transmission and clean energy investments that will deliver indisputable climate benefits,” Shapiro said in a statement. “Instead of sending billions out of state and out of the region every year to fossil fuel companies, we can keep those dollars right here in Maine by investing in local clean energy projects.”