Central Maine Power (CMP), EDP Renewables (EDPR) and Emera Maine have reached agreements that will allow the building of new transmission lines to reduce congestion and advance renewable energy development in northern Maine.
According to the participants, the agreements advance the first of several transmission projects CMP and Emera Maine are jointly pursuing.
The focus of the agreements is EDPR's use of a portion of a key transmission corridor known as the Bridal Path, between Houlton and Haynesville in Aroostook County, Maine.
Under the agreements, Emera Maine and CMP are providing EDPR with an option to purchase a portion of the Bridal Path corridor to develop a new transmission line, with Emera Maine and CMP having buyback rights to purchase EDPR's development in the corridor.
The project is being advanced as part of the transmission infrastructure needed to deliver energy from EDPR's 250 MW Number Nine Wind Farm to the ISO-New England electric grid.
According to EDPR, the wind project is currently under development at a site west of Bridgewater, Maine. EDPR already has contracts with electric utilities in Connecticut and is in the process of securing necessary permits and approvals for the project. The agreements with CMP and Emera Maine will allow EDPR to move forward in the coming weeks with a formal application to the Maine Department of Environmental Protection.
‘Making use of an existing transmission corridor makes sense,’ says Bill Whitlock, EDPR's executive vice president. ‘The Bridal Path corridor is ideal. It enables development of the wind farm and the economic benefits that it will bring to the local community, and it makes environmental sense as well. We're pleased CMP and Emera Maine are working with our company to make this happen.’
