Maine utility regulators have selected Clearway Energy Group to develop an 800MW onshore wind project in northern Maine and named Avangrid as their preferred developer of a transmission line linking it to the New England grid.
The Maine Public Utilities Commission (MPUC) announced the outcome of its request for proposals (RFPs) under Docket No. 2026-00033, issued under the Northern Maine Renewable Energy Development Program.
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Clearway’s bid received an award for both energy and renewable energy credits, contingent on the transmission element going ahead. Contract negotiations will now begin.
Avangrid, the parent company of Central Maine Power, proposed a 1.2GW line terminating at Haynseville.
The MPUC said the plan uses existing transmission corridors to the maximum practical extent, that nearly all rights of way have been secured and that it showed the strongest viability within a commercially reasonable time frame.
Maine’s share of the generation will be roughly 600MW, leaving 400MW of capacity on the line. The commission said it would issue further RFPs to fill that space.
Massachusetts, Vermont, Connecticut and Rhode Island took part in the procurement alongside Maine and will share the line’s costs, with Maine responsible for less than 11%.
MPUC chair Philip Bartlett II said: “This procurement reflects months of careful work to identify projects that will bring reliable, renewable energy to the grid, providing value to Maine and the region, while minimising costs for Maine ratepayers by sharing costs with other states commensurate with the value provided.”
The MPUC estimates net benefits to Maine of at least $387m–425m over the project’s life, along with more than 2,500 full-time construction jobs across four years. It also projects around $150m in new municipal and state tax revenue and more than $2.4bn in total economic output.
MPUC commissioner Patrick Scully said: “I have not seen anything like this in the US, and I think this effort deserves national attention and provides a model for other regions to work collaboratively to meet common energy, climate and reliability goals.”
A power purchase agreement for Maine’s 600MW is still to be finalised and approved.
The transmission component requires Federal Energy Regulatory Committee (FERC) approval, and the commission recommended that the New England States Committee on Electricity work with the coordinating states and Avangrid on a Voluntary Agreement for submission to the FERC.
Permitting and construction will take years. Maine currently has around 900MW of land-based wind generation.
