Central Maine Power Co. has taken some public relations hits in the past two years. But its biggest challenge may be trying to convince Mainers of the value of its proposed transmission corridor.
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Central Maine Power Co. has taken some public relations hits in the past two years, dating to the Halloween storm that knocked out power to thousands of Maine customers.
But its biggest challenge may be trying to convince Mainers of the value of its proposed transmission corridor.
CMP would like to build a 145-mile transmission line that would transmit power from Hydro-Quebec’s hydroelectric plants to Massachusetts, where the power would go into the New England grid. The project will cost nearly $1 billion.
One of the leading critics of the proposal, the Natural Resources Council of Maine, calls the proposal “a bad deal for Maine,” saying it would require “clearing of a large, currently undisturbed swath of Maine’s North Woods,” according to its website. The line would “permanently damage undeveloped forest and wildlife habitat, stifle Maine’s own renewable energy industry and jeopardize the creation of clean energy jobs.”
The effort has won the support of the federal Energy Regulatory Commission and Maine Public Utilities Commission, as well as the Maine Land Use Planning Commission. It also recently won the backing of a group of former state environmental officials and advocates calling itself Mainers for Clean Energy Jobs.
There’s been no small PR effort waged over the proposal.
Clean Energy Matters, a political action committee funded by CMP, last year spent $2.19 million, with $1.77 million of that going toward TV or cable ads, according to the Maine Ethics Commission.
With opponents digging in their heels, Hydro-Quebec officials are now making the rounds in Maine, seeking public backing.
“There are a lot of things people have said about hydropower,” Hydro-Quebec CEO Eric Martel tells Mainebiz. “People deserve fact-based information.”
He says 99% of the power that would be transmitted would come from hydropower, and that it would reduce carbon emissions. Of the 145 miles the project would occupy, 70% to 75% would be on an existing corridor.
The last major power line of this kind was built in 1989, from James Bay, Quebec, to Sandy Pond station in Ayer, Mass. It was a project that was fraught with its own controversies, for the way it handled relations with indigenous communities along the route.
Martel acknowledges that they would have to cut down trees, but argues that it would be a fraction of what the forestry industry cuts each year.
The project would create 1,600 temporary jobs, in construction, engineering and project management.
The power, Martel says, would become part of the New England grid, which ultimately could come back to Maine.
For Maine, there would be a yearly savings of up to $44 million in lower energy costs, Hydro-Quebec says. There would also be revenue for towns affected, improved broadband, heat pump incentives and electric vehicle charging stations.
Finally, he says, “hydropower is not a competitor of wind or solar. We will need all the sources,” he says.
The plan still needs approval from the Maine Department of Environmental Protection, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the U.S. Department of Energy and ISO New England, which oversees operation of the region’s power system.
