Dive Brief:
- Emera Maine and Central Maine Power (CMP), Maine's two biggest utilities, signed a memorandum of understanding for joint transmission projects that will link southern New England and northern Maine, where a proposed 2,100-plus megawatts of wind power could be developed.
- There will be two phases to the transmission construction, with phase one covering technical feasibility, public policy, regulatory considerations, and outreach to other stakeholders, and phase two covering design, engineering, siting, and construction.
- The two utilities serve more than 95% of Maine's homes and businesses and have cooperated on transmission before, including the MEPCO line from central Maine to New Brunswick, Canada, that delivers eastern Canada’s abundant hydroelectric power to Maine.
Dive Insight:
The agreement between the utilities is a response to a call by New England’s six governors for energy infrastructure upgrades to serve portfolio diversification and increased integration of new renewables.
CMP, the state’s biggest utility, serves southern Maine and is nearing completion of the Maine Power Reliability Program, a $1.4 billion transmission and substation upgrade to its 345kV bulk power grid.
Emera Maine, which took in Bangor Hydro Electric and Maine Public Service, serves eastern and northern Maine and completed the 43 mile, 115kV Downeast Reliability Project and the 85-mile, 345kV Northeast Reliability Interconnect.
CMP is owned by Iberdrola, the world's fifth biggest utility in market value and the world's biggest wind energy company.
