What a New Governor Means for Renewable Energy in Maine

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Short days and frequent snows can make Maine winters seem gloomy. But for renewable energy companies and supporters, the gloom has persisted for the last eight years under a governor openly hostile to solar and wind energy. With the 2018 election, a pro-environment Democratic governor and Democratic majorities in both chambers of the state legislature were swept intoย power.

โ€œOne of the more frustrating things over the last eight years has been the inability to have a conversation around a shared goal that is based in reality,โ€ said Jeremy Payne, executive director of the Maine Renewable Energy Association (MREA). He said theyโ€™re now looking forward to having โ€œa positive, fact-based discourse around energyย policy.โ€

Rough Going for Renewables under Gov.ย LePage

The outgoing governor, Paul LePage, a Republican, did his best to kneecap solar and windย development.

He opposed a 2012 ballot initiative requiring Maine to obtain 20 percent of its electricity from renewable sources, calling it a โ€œjob killer.โ€ In 2014, he introduced legislation to eliminate the stateโ€™s wind-power generation goals. He repeatedly attacked solar energy mandates and net metering as subsidies for theย wealthy.

Maine Governor Paul LePage speaking at 2017 CPAC.
Governor Paul LePage of Maine speaking at the 2017 Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in National Harbor, Maryland.
Credit:ย Gage Skidmore,ย CC BYSAย 2.0

Full retail net metering was available to Maine consumers until April of this year. Then, said Phil Coupe, co-founder of Revision Energy, an employee-owned solar energy contractor, โ€œThe LePage-controlled Public Utilities Commission was finally able to inflict a deep anti-solar wound in the industry by introducing its gross meteringย program.โ€

Under the new rule, consumers who have grid-connected solar panels lose part of the credit they get for power sent back to the grid. Transmission and distribution credits step down each year from 90 percent to zero over 10 years. โ€œIt’s like growing your own tomatoes and having the grocery store charge for those tomatoes,โ€ saidย Coupe.

Earlier this year, LePage issued an executive order that prohibited new wind energy projects in portions of the state while establishing a secret commission to study the supposed effects of wind turbines onย tourism.

Turning a New Page for Cleanย Energy

Governor-elect Janet Mills, Maineโ€™s first female governor, has put wind and solar at the top of her environmental agenda. Among other priorities, her energy policy specifically calls for restoring net metering and passing legislation to support the development of windย power.

Mills also has promised to change the regulations that limit participation in community solar projects to nine members, a rule which restricts the practical size of the solar array for such projects and makes participation prohibitively expensive for low-incomeย residents.

โ€œYou canโ€™t really build economies of scale,โ€ Coupe explained. Itโ€™s meant a loss of business for Revision Energy and jobs for Maine. After completing 10 projects, he said they gave up on pursuing more community solar in the state. โ€œIt was no longer economicallyย viable.โ€

Community solar farm in Freeport, Maine
Maine Idyll Community Solar Farm in Freeport, Maine. Credit: Courtesy of Revisionย Energy

Changing Winds for Windย Power

Maine leads New England in wind power, generating 20 percent of its electricity from wind, but no new projects have started since 2016. With new leaders in Augusta, Maineโ€™s capital, MREAโ€™s Payne expects two major projects to move forward nextย year.

Weaver Wind in Hancock County is a 22-turbine, 72.6-megawatt project that has just begun the permitting process. Downeast Wind, a $270 million coastal project in rural Washington County held up by the LePage executive order, will deliver 90 megawatts whenย built.

Power Lineย Struggle

As governor, Mills is sure to soon face one contentious item that has brought environmentalists and fossil-fuel generators together against the stateโ€™s largest electricย utility.

After New Hampshire rejected a proposed 180-mile transmission line that would have brought Canadian hydro power to Massachusetts while providing no benefit to the Granite State, Maine became the next choice. Central Maine Power, under a 20-year contract with Massachusetts, wants to build a 145-mile, 1,200-megawatt transmission line in the western part ofย Maine.

MREA is opposed. โ€œWe have failed to see the benefit to Maine,โ€ said Payne. He explained that the conduit offers no opportunity for Maine renewable energy suppliers to connect and sell power to Massachusetts, and none of the hydro power coming through from Canada will be available toย Mainers.

Two natural gas power plants and a biomass plant in Maine also object to the project, known as New England Clean Energy Connect. They worry that cheap hydro power sold by Hydro-Quebec could make their operationsย uncompetitive.

For its part, Central Maine Power says the project will create 1,700 jobs in construction each year for the next four years and save Maine ratepayers $40 million a year for the next 20 years. The company also estimates a reduction in carbon emissions amounting to 265,000 metric tonsย annually.

A study commissioned by the Sierra Club, Natural Resources Council of Maine, and MREA challenged that claim, concluding that, because Hydro-Quebec also buys low-priced fossil fuel power on the energy market, this project would have no net effect on greenhouse gas emissions. โ€œInstead the transmission line would redirect existing generation and enable Hydro-Quebec to profit from โ€˜green-washingโ€™ dirty, fossil-fuel power,โ€ the organizations said in a press release.

The study also found that the project would likely hinder development of additional renewable energy projects inย Maine.

The outgoing governor, LePage, strongly supported Central Maine Powerโ€™s transmission line. The Maine Public Utilities Commission (PUC) has delayed its decision on the project until March 2019, when the term of the current LePage-appointed chairman, Mark Vannoy,ย expires.

Two other state agencies, the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) and the Maine Land Use Planning Commission, also need to weighย in.

Janet Mills will have an opportunity to appoint a new chair of the Maine PUC when she takes office. Prior to the election, she told the Bangor Daily News that she had โ€œvery serious questionsโ€ about the proposed transmissionย line.

But in an interview with the Boston Globe following the election, Mills said that she wants to see mitigation of the environmental impact as well as concrete benefits to Maine consumers โ€œbefore putting the welcome mat out for thisย project.โ€

Mills will have to navigate a path that wonโ€™t betray her most ardent supporters in the environmental community, who are unlikely to change theirย minds.

Sue Ely, an attorney with the Natural Resources Council of Maine, was unwavering in a news release: โ€œThe [Central Maine Power] transmission line would do nothing to reduce harmful climate pollution while it would harm wildlife, habitat, and recreationalย resources.โ€

Main image: Maine Governor-elect Janet Mills. Credit: Courtesy of Janet Mills for Governor campaign

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Dan is an environmental writer and photographer. Find more of his work at DanZukowski.com

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