"As a supporter of Maine Climate Action Goals and Maine's clean energy transition, we are proud to be on track to achieve this milestone," said Jon Breed, spokesperson for Central Maine Power. "And while we urgently connect more solar to the grid, we will continue to do so in a manner that is safe. Connecting this much new electricity must be done right, because doing it wrong could undermine the integrity of Maine's power grid, which could have cascading effects across the region."
The foundational design of Maine's power grid was laid out more than 100 years ago, and was built to move power thousands of miles in one direction, from large power plants to homes and businesses. As CMP builds the clean grid of the future, the company expects to see more two-way networks utilizing smaller, distributed sources of intermittent power.
Solar interconnection cost responsibilities and timelines are governed by the Maine Public Utilities Commission, and often requires solar developers to meet both Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) and ISO-New England requirements. There are more than 400 additional solar projects currently proposed in Maine that must undergo the study process, and the timeline for each can vary given the size of the facility, geographic location of the project, and the complexity of the interconnection.
Central Maine Power's success builds on that of its parent company, Avangrid, which is one of the largest renewable energy companies in the United States. Avangrid has nearly 9 GW of installed, emissions-free capacity and has completed more than 29,000 grid interconnections, representing more than 3.8 GW of Distributed Energy Resources, such as solar and storage.
Iberdrola, the largest shareholder of Avangrid, is the world's largest renewable energy company with more than 41,000 MW of installed capacity and nearly $18 billion in planned clean energy investment globally. Following a request from UN Secretary General António Guterres, Iberdrola presented its Climate Transition Plan to the United Nations during the U.N General Assembly last month. In it, the company plans to achieve carbon neutrality for scopes 1 and 2 by 2030, and net-zero emission before 2040 for all scopes.
To learn more about CMP's solar interconnect process, click here.
Media Contact:
- Jon Breed
Jonathan.Breed@avangrid.com
207.458.3510
