Special to the Pioneer Times
PRESQUE ISLE – Maine Public Service company and Central Maine Power (CMP) recently unveiled their plans for the an electricity transmission line joining northern Maine with the New England power grid via the 25 mile “Bridal Path” between Houlton and Haynesville. The joint project is being called the Maine Power Connection (MPC) program. The companies began studying the feasibility of this project in March of last year, and last week they released their preliminary findings, although their research continues.
Preliminary cost estimates put the project in the $400 million to $500 million range. MPC hopes to fund the line through a socialized system within ISO-New England. MPC is also in talks with potential users of the line, including wind generators and existing generators, in hopes that the users of the line will make a contribution in some manner, possibly in energy, capacity or dollars.
Maine Public is seeking a conditional membership in ISO-New England, an energy wholesale administration company, which oversees the entire New England power grid. The conditions Maine Public has put forth include: ratepayers must remain harmless, the Maine Public Utilities Commission (MPUC) must approve the construction of the line, and the terms must be satisfactory to Maine Public and its board of directors. ISO-New England has acknowledged and agreed that these terms should be in place.
“Maine Public and CMP’s position has been all along that ratepayers, worst case, cannot be any worse off than they are today – in other words, rates can’t be any higher than they are today as a result of this project,” explained Brent Boyles, president and CEO of Maine Public, “And our preference, obviously, is that the rates go lower.”
Prompted by rising energy costs, the MPUC is analyzing Maine’s relationship with ISO-New England, and earlier this year found that Maine had three choices in this regard: enact energy market reforms, join a regional transmission organization with Maritime Canada, or form its own regional transmission organization. The Maine legislature and delegation in Washington, D.C. are in the process of enacting market reforms to reduce and stabilize the price of power in Maine and bring more transparency to ISO-New England’s practices.
“Those market reforms, we take those very seriously,” Boyles said.
Opponents of ISO-New England’s cost-sharing allocation in Maine have suggested Maine should pull out of ISO-New England entirely.
“If we can’t come up with those reforms, and Maine decides to leave ISO-New England, then obviously those are new challenges for the socialization of this line,” Boyles said.
Boyles explained that the MPC project is continuing to conduct cost-benefit analysis on the potential effects on northern Maine ratepayers, the entire state and the rest of New England. MPC hopes that a production cost-benefit analysis for the rest of New England will be calculated sometime next month, and a stakeholder cost-benefit study for northern Maine will be completed or nearly completed by July. At that point the MPC companies will decide whether or not to go forward with filing with MPUC to build the line.
“By mid-summer we should have much more concrete information,” Boyles said, “There has to be a benefit for northern Maine and all of Maine – and the rest of New England.”
“[The plan] can’t adversely affect ratepayers, either in Houlton or Maine Public Service or anyone in the state for that matter,” Boyles added.
The MPC project was initially prompted by concerns that northern Maine is isolated from a competitive energy market, since electricity coming from southern New England must be routed through eastern Canada and back into Maine.
“Other benefits of the line will also be looked at, in other words, what tax base does it bring to the town? Not only the line but for generation that’s located in northern Maine,” Boyles said.
MPC is also researching a potential transmission line to connect Limestone north or east, so generators in Maine could sell power into eastern Canada.
More information on the Maine Power Connection project is available on the Web site, www.mainepowerconnection.com.
