AUGUSTA, Maine — Maine energy regulators signaled they may toss a developer’s plan to build an Aroostook County wind transmission line and request new bids due to price uncertainties around the crucial project.
“Significant differences” have emerged in recent months of negotiations between Maine Public Utilities Commission staff and New York-based LS Power, Phil Bartlett, the chair of the three-member commission, said at a Thursday hearing.
The company plans to build a transmission line from Glenwood Plantation in Aroostook County to a new substation near Windsor in Kennebec County. It would connect the New England grid to the 170-plus-turbine King Pine Wind project from Boston-based Longroad Energy.
It would become the country’s largest on-shore wind farm east of the Mississippi River and produce enough electricity to power about 450,000 homes. The commission made no final decision on Thursday, but two commissioners supported asking for new bids on the project, a move that would delay the wind line.
Bartlett said Thursday that LS Power has “made clear” it can no longer hold to its initial price for generation and transmission and that the company had not included a binding price in its proposal. The chair said that was unacceptable and unfair to past bidders.
“This is a nonstarter,” Bartlett said.
Commissioner Patrick Scully agreed with Bartlett, adding that LS Power’s plan would start to shift a “substantial amount of risk” to ratepayers. Scully added that was inconsistent with a previously approved “term sheet” for the project. The third commission member, Carolyn Gilbert, recused herself from Thursday’s discussion.
A spokesperson said after Thursday’s brief meeting that the agency “may issue a new procurement, but [commissioners] have not decided yet how they will proceed.”
LS Power respects the commission’s decision to reopen the bidding process and remains “confident in the strengths and benefits of our proposal, which include predictable energy costs for the next two decades, the creation of thousands of new jobs and the contribution of millions in new tax revenue,” Doug Mulvey, a vice president for the company, said in a statement.
In 2022, the commission approved LS Power’s initial plan to build the transmission line and later also approved the wind farm, estimating most Maine residential electric customers would pay an extra $1 per month for a 60 percent share in the project, with Massachusetts ratepayers covering the remaining 40 percent. The Legislature and Gov. Janet Mills signed off on the transmission line and wind farm project this summer.
But in recent months, developers and regulators were bogged down in negotiations over the purchase and transmission service agreements. Numerous municipalities along the potential route have also passed moratoriums and ordinances formally opposing the project.
The utilities commission chose the two companies last year in two separate bids because they had the lowest combined amount for the project and had the experience to build it, Bartlett previously said.
Initial estimates said the entire project would cost ratepayers $1.7 billion over 30 years. The cost of the power line was expected to be $2.8 billion, but it would be offset by lower electricity prices driven by the wind turbines over 20 years.
