DrMcMeow OP t1_j6pf9fa wrote
Maine utility regulators on Tuesday gave final approval to a wind power project that would provide enough electricity for at least 450,000 New England homes along with construction of a new transmission corridor in northern Maine to get the electricity to the regional power 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.
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.
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