Maine is getting a $65 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy to upgrade its electrical grid in order to deliver more clean energy to households.
The project announced Friday by the Maine Governor’s Energy Office is funded through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and will involve Central Maine Power and Versant Power.
It’ll use software and hardware updates for the purpose of improving grid stability, regulating voltage and increasing transmission capacity on existing lines.
One of the project’s goals is to make intermittent sources of power like wind and solar more flexible to use.
In addition, it designed to connect more renewable energy to the power grid while also protecting the grid from overloading. A further goal is to enable the efficient, automated flow of clean energy through the grid while lowering interconnection costs.
The Governor’s Energy Office say the funding also will help advance Governor Mills’ goal of creating 30,000 clean energy jobs by 2030 by creating and expanding clean energy job training and job placement.
This announcement follows several other federal grants awarded to Maine for clean energy in 2024. In August, Governor Mills announced a $147 million federal grant award to support a long-duration energy storage system in Lincoln, part of a $389 million regional grid innovation grant to New England states funded through BIL.
“A strong, modern electrical grid is essential for unlocking affordable, reliable, clean energy for Maine people,” said Maine Governor’s Energy Office Director Dan Burgess. “Though this award, the FIRM project will deliver cutting edge technologies that will expand grid capacity and allow for more flexible management of clean energy resources while growing Maine’s clean energy workforce through training opportunities, apprenticeships, and job creation.”
