Maine joins 9 other states to promote regional planning to boost clean energy
Maine has joined nine other Northeastern states promising to coordinate their work to improve the reliability of electricity transmission and smooth the transition to clean energy.
The Governor’s Energy Office signed the agreement with Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island and Vermont. Among other objectives, it establishes common technical standards for offshore wind transmission to reduce the cost of meeting federal and state goals and be compatible with future projects connecting wind energy to the grid.
State officials will cooperate on the planning and development of regional transmission infrastructure and may work with utilities, manufacturers, environmental groups and others.
Jeff Marks, executive director of ClimateWork Maine, a business group focused on climate change, said the framework agreed to by the states “could make it easier to build transmission lines and move electricity between states to deal with growing power demands.” Cooperation among the states also may help modernize the electricity grid and ease clean energy planning for renewable energy such as solar, offshore wind and hydropower, he said in a statement.
