Microgrids that regulators determine “serve the public interest” are back in play in Maine this year as lawmakers try to pass a bill that fell short a year ago.
Legislators passed a bipartisan bill last year more clearly defining how microgrids could be created, but former Republican Gov. Paul LePage vetoed it. Newly elected Gov. Janet Mills has clear majorities of fellow Democrats in both houses of the legislature.
Mills’ aggressive clean energy agenda has included a goal of 100 percent renewable energy, supporting a transmission project to import hydropower destined for Massachusetts, lifting a moratorium on wind pr0ject permits and expanded use of heat pumps. Legislative colleagues have introduced virtually the same microgrid bill that was vetoed last year, now known as LD 13.
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Rep. Mick Devin, the bill’s prime sponsor, said Vermont, which has aggressively promoted distributed energy resources and its utility Green Mountain Power was working to integrate clean energy into its power system. “It’s an example of how Maine might move forward on energy policy, particularly via the establishment of microgrids,” Devin said.
LD 13 would create a process through which the Maine Public Utilities Commission (PUC) could approve the construction and operation of new microgrids.
Local, green and under 10 MW
The microgrid could serve load no larger than 10 MW, and its generation resources must qualify as eligible under the state’s renewable portfolio standard (RPS) and would have to be located nearby. Investor-owned utilities or their affiliates could not own or operate microgrids.
At a Jan. 31 legislative hearing, Paulina Collins, legislative liaison for the PUC, said the commission would suggest some flexibility be written into the RPS requirement. “For example, a microgrid that contains solar generation, may need back-up generation from a source that does not qualify for the portfolio requirement,” she said.
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